Baseball Opens Sun Belt Play at ULM

Friday, March 15

Monroe, La.

6 p.m.

Troy University

ULM

3/14/2024 3:59:00 PM | Baseball

WATCH LIVE (G1)WATCH LIVE (G2)WATCH LIVE (G3)LISTEN LIVE LIVE STATS

By: Troy Athletics Communications

MONROE, La. – Troy baseball prepares for a quick turnaround after battling No. 12 Auburn on Tuesday with its Sun Belt Conference series opener at Lou St. Amant Field against ULM from Friday to Sunday.

Game Information
Location: Monroe, La. – Lou St. Amant Field
The Matchup: Troy (12-6) vs. ULM (11-6)
Date: March 15 | March 16 | March 17
Time: 6 p.m. | 2 p.m. | 1 p.m.
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: Troy Sports Radio Network - 94.7 FM | TroyTrojans.com
Live Stats: TroyStats.com

Projected Starting Pitchers (Troy vs. ULM)
Game One: Luke Lyon vs. Daniel Gonzalez
Game Two: Clete Hartzog vs. Beau Blanchard
Game Three: TBA vs. TBA

On the Backstretch
The Trojans (12-6) hit the final stretch on their longest road trip since 1992 (12). After Tuesday's loss to No. 12 Auburn, 8-2, and a 2-1 series win over Indiana, Troy sits 3-5 with four games remaining.

At Toyota Field, Troy managed home runs from Will Butcher and Shane Lewis, who totaled 11 through 2024 and seven in the last four games. However, Auburn limited Troy to four hits, including just one through the first six innings to secure the win.

Despite the loss, Troy's Grady Gorgen, Kristian Asbury and Sam Schmidt all made their first appearances of the season. The bullpen struck out eight Auburn batters, extending Troy's streak of striking out seven-plus batters to 11 – struck out seven-plus in all but one game through 2024.

The overall series between Troy and ULM swung more in the Trojans' corner after sweeping the Warhawks (11-6) for the second straight season in 2023. In the last 20 meetings, Troy's won 16, including four series sweeps.

Last season's series ended with Kyle Mock showing his heroics. Game two of a Saturday doubleheader saw Mock hammer a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to give Troy the 4-3 advantage. He put the final touch on the win with the game-tying run at second for ULM. He got under the fly ball to right field and threw a dart to home, beating the runner and securing the win and the series sweep.

The Sun Belt Preseason poll ranked Troy third, while the Warhawks sat 13^th. ULM was also one of six programs in the league with zero nods on the All-Sun Belt Team.

Nonconference play saw ULM open its season 0-2 but manage a series sweep over Alabama A&M and mid-week wins over Grambling, 13-3, Northwestern State, 9-2, and Stephen F. Austin, 13-2 to recover for an 11-6 record. The Warhawks come off a mid-week match with Ole Miss, where the Rebels scored two runs in the top of the ninth to secure a 5-3 win.

Nonconference Numbers
• Troy has been successful in getting a runner home from third with less than two outs 72.9 percent of the time (43-of-59) while holding opponents to a 67.4 percentage ... Brooks Bryan is 9-for-10, scoring runs in this situation
• Troy has several players hurt by BABIP early this season (the mean is typically .300), with Mikey Bello (.214), Brooks Bryan (.219), Mock (.233) and Peyton Watts (.130) all well below the average mark.
• Three Trojans enter the series at ULM with OPS marks over 1.000 -- Butcher (1.375), Ethan Kavanagh (1.141) and Kole Myers (1.274).
• Troy has attacked opponents starting pitching, with 13 HR and 14 2B against the starters, forcing them to an 8.58 ERA. That's 39 percent of the total HR output and 35 percent of the doubles ... nine of Troy's 33 home runs this season have been hit in the first two innings of the game.
• Troy's first inning OBP of .505 is its highest mark of any inning ... the Trojans are batting .313 in the first inning and have drawn 21 walks and been his by seven pitches.
• Troy has won six straight games against ULM and five straight series (2017-23) ... The Trojans have won 13 of the 15 series between the two programs, with ULM winning back-to-back series in 2015 and 2016.
• Troy is 0-3 when it is not hit by a pitch and 3-6 when hit by one or fewer pitches; the Trojans are 9-0 when hit by two or more pitches.
• Butcher leads the Trojans with nine 2-out RBIs this season, while Ethan Kavanagh is close behind with seven; Butcher is hitting .364 with two outs and Kavanagh is batting .444 with two outs
• Troy has scored 10-plus runs 10 times through the first 17 games of the season; the Trojans reached double-digit runs 18 times in 62 games last season.
• Lewis' second home run in Sunday's finale at Indiana registered at 475 feet via Trackman ... of Troy's 26 homers that have Trackman data, nine have been hit 400-plus feet, including all three of Lewis'.
• Troy has hit 7-plus home runs in three of its four-weekend series; not surprisingly, those are the three series the Trojans have won.
• Troy's bullpen has not allowed an earned run in seven games this season; the pen has allowed two or fewer earned runs in 10 games.
• Individually, Butcher leads the country with 33 RBIs through the first 18 games of the season; he already has a 9 RBI game and a 6 RBI game. Luke Lyon is fourth with a 0.59 WHIP and third, allowing 2.86 hits per nine innings.
• Kole Myers entered the week ranked 12th in the country with a 1.44 (Wins Above Replacement); third-ranked center fielder. He is 11th with 1.38 offensive wins above replacement.
• Ethan Kavanagh entered the week ranked third nationally among second basemen with a 1.2 WAR, while Butcher ranked 20th among first basemen with a 0.99 WAR.
• Shortstop Tremayne Cobb Jr. ranked 15th nationally and third among shortstops, with 3.51 defensive runs saved, entering the week ... eight of the top 14 players are catchers.
• Troy's current 12-game road trip is the longest since ending the 1997 season with 12 straight games on the road (also included the NCAA Tournament) ... this is the longest in-season road stretch since a 13-game run in 1992 (only two of those games were true road games, with 11 at neutral sites).