Baseball Completes Sweep of Harvard; Run-Rules Fifth Opponent

Sunday, February 25

Troy, Ala.

12 p.m.

Troy University

7-1

Harvard

0-3

Harvard

Troy

Baseball Completes Sweep of Harvard; Run-Rules Fifth Opponent

2/25/2024 3:29:00 PM | Baseball

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. – Brooks Bryan homered and drove in four, and Troy's pitching staff combined for 11 strikeouts as the Trojans defeated Harvard, 11-1, on Sunday at Riddle-Pace Field to complete the three-game sweep. Troy has won by the run rule in five of its seven wins this season.

Troy (7-1) nipped and tucked through the first three innings, jumping out to a 4-0 lead after manufacturing a run in the first on a Will Butcher RBI grounder, before using the long ball in the second and third innings.

Bryan blasted his second home run of the weekend in the second after Tremayne Cobb Jr. led off the frame with a single, and Kole Myers hit his third of the weekend and sixth of the season to lead off the third; Myers is almost halfway to his home run total from last year when he hit 13.

Troy broke it open in the fifth with a six-run frame, its fifth time this season that it has topped the six-run mark in an inning.

Mikey Bello led off the inning with a double to left center, and Ethan Kavanagh smoked a ball back up the middle to plate a run. Butcher followed with a 2-run double, capping a 3-RBI game and pushing his season total to 23 before Bryan plated two with a double and Aidan Gilroy drove a sac fly to center.

Kavanagh and Gilroy joined Bryan with two hits on the day as the Trojans reached double-digit hits for the fifth time this season. Troy has scored 92 runs through eight games, with 24 doubles and 17 home runs as a club.

Four walks from the Harvard (0-3) bullpen ended the game early, with Cooper Smith coming off the bench to draw the game-winner. Callan Fang (0-1) took the loss for the Crimson after allowing eight runs on nine hits over 4.1 innings; he struck out five and walked one.

Clete Hartzog (2-0) struck out seven in his second start for the Trojans and picked up the win with 4.1 innings of 1-run ball before Connor Burt, Brady Fuller, and Matt Mercer allowed just one hit – a shift-buster – with four strikeouts out of the bullpen in the final 2.2 innings.

Troy hosts Kent State for a two-game mid-week set on Tuesday (6 p.m.) and Wednesday (4 p.m.). The Flashes finished the 2023 campaign with a 42-16 overall record and 24-6 mark in the MAC.

Quotable – Head Coach Skylar Meade
"I thought we executed our stuff throughout the weekend and never let them get comfortable in the box. I'm glad to see our see our guys really locked in. We had a tough Friday night game that you end up winning the way we did and come out the last two days and really set a tone and pack a punch, and I think the crowds helped push us forward."

Notable
• Troy has played five straight games without committing an error … the Trojans didn't go more than two straight games without an error last season. It marks the first time since April 2014 that the Trojans have played five straight games without committing an error.

• Kole Myers extended his hitting streak to 17 games and his on-base streak to 26 games after hitting a home run, drawing a pair of walks and being hit by a pitch – his on-base percentage is .718 on the year.

• Troy has hit multiple home runs in six straight games, including three home runs in three of those contests. The Trojans opened the 2023 season with multiple home runs in the first seven games of the season.

• Troy pitchers have allowed two or fewer extra-base hits in six straight games; in contrast, Troy hitters have collected three or more extra-base hits in all eight games and have four or more in six games.

• Kole Myers scored three times and drew two walks; he entered the weekend sixth nationally (one behind the leaders) with eight walks and led the country with 12 runs scored. This weekend, he has scored seven runs and drawn five walks.

• Troy drew seven walks in the game after entering the weekend ranked 14^th nationally with 36 walks on the season (7.2 per game). The Trojans drew 26 walks in the series.

• Troy has scored 6-plus runs in an inning five times this season after doing so in the fifth inning Sunday.

• The seven-inning victory was Troy's fifth run-shortened win of the season … Troy has five wins in seven innings, one in 10 and just one in nine innings.

• Troy improved to 15-14 in the series finales under head coach Skylar Meade.

• Ethan Kavanagh extended his reached base streak to 20 games after picking up a pair of base hits.

• Troy recorded four doubles in the game and now has three or more doubles in 5-of-8 games this season. The Trojans are averaging 5.38 extra-base hits per game.

• Troy's bullpen held Harvard to two earned runs on five hits over 7.2 innings during the series; the Trojan pen combined to strikeout 10 and walk just two in the series.