Troy Drops Mid-Week Contest to No. 12 Auburn

Tuesday, March 12

Madison, Ala.

6 p.m.

Troy University

12-6

Auburn

13-3

Troy

Auburn

Troy Drops Mid-Week Contest to No. 12 Auburn

3/12/2024 10:02:00 PM | Baseball

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

MADISON, Ala. – Troy got home runs from Will Butcher and Shane Lewis, but it was not enough as No. 12 Auburn outlasted the Trojans, 8-2, Tuesday night at Toyota Field, home of the Rocket City Trash Pandas.

Butcher put Troy (12-6) on the board with his seventh homer of the season, and fourth in the last four games, just three batters into the game, but Auburn (13-3) held the Trojans without a hit until Lewis' fourth homer of the season and third in the last two games in the seventh.

The Tigers answered Butcher's homer with two runs in the home half of the first on a sac fly from Ike Irish and a groundout by Cooper McMurray after the Tigers led off the frame with a double and a walk.

The game took a turn in the fourth when Logan Ross had to leave the mound with an apparent injury, causing a lengthy delay as Grady Gorgen was allowed an extended warm up before taking over on the mound. The Tigers scored one in the fourth and two in the fifth to jump out to a 5-1 lead.

Auburn added home runs from Caden Green and McMurray in the seventh and eighth innings.

Garrett Gainous (1-1) was charged with the loss for Troy after he allowed two runs on four hits in 2.2 innings of work; he walked three and struck out two. Conner McBride (3-0) picked up the win for Auburn, allowing just the Butcher home run over five innings.

Troy opens Sun Belt Conference play this weekend with a three-game series at ULM.

Quotable – Head Coach Skylar Meade
"What an awesome atmosphere with more than 6,100 fans here; what a dream. This is what you dream about playing in front of. Obviously, both teams came out throwing punches in the first and then settled down. I thought the game had the makings of a 4-2, 4-3 game, and then (Logan) Ross goes down; it just zapped our juice in the middle of the game. Our guys competed well, but credit to Auburn. Their guys pitched really well, and I think they are going to do tremendously well (this season)."

Notable
• Kole Myers extended his reached base streak to a team-leading 36 games after drawing a leadoff walk to open the game.

• Troy used three pitchers in the game who all made their first appearances of the season -- Grady Gorgen made his first appearance on the mound since March 14, 2023, after missing the bulk of 2023 with an arm injury; Kristian Asbury made his first appearance of the season taking over on the mound in the bottom of the fifth inning and freshman Sam Schmidt appeared in the seventh inning.

• Shane Lewis homered for the third time in Troy's last two games to push his season tally to four after he hit a program-record 27 home runs in 2023. He sits alone in eighth place all-time with 31 career home runs; next on the list is Brian Lipman's 35 homers from 2001-03.

• Ethan Kavanagh's 13-game hitting streak and 29 game reached base streak both ended after he went 0-for-4.

• Troy hit a home run for the seventh straight game and multiple home runs for the 11^th time in 18 games. The Trojans have a home run in 16-of-18 games on the year.

• Troy's two runs were its fewest of the season, while its four hits matched its second-lowest output this year.

• Troy pitchers combined to strikeout eight Auburn batters, the 11^th straight game that the Trojans have struck out at least seven batters. Troy has seven or more strikeouts in all but one game.