Late Cobb Jr. Home Run Lifts Troy Past UAB

Tuesday, March 19

Birmingham, Ala.

4 p.m.

Troy University

15-7

UAB

10-10

Troy

UAB

Late Cobb Jr. Home Run Lifts Troy Past UAB

3/19/2024 8:08:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Troy Athletics Communications

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Tremayne Cobb Jr. hit a game-winning home run in the top of the ninth inning as Troy defeated UAB, 9-8, Tuesday in non-conference action at Young Memorial Field in the final game of a 12-game road swing for Troy.

Troy (15-7) rallied from an 8-7 deficit in the eighth inning after UAB (10-10) scored six unearned runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to take a lead, which proved short-lived.

The Trojans tied the game in the top half of the eighth inning on a sac fly from Kole Myers after Blake Sutton drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a Mikey Bello sac bunt and a single by Aidan Gilroy.

Jake Smallwood drew a leadoff walk to start the home half of the ninth inning, but Noah Manning (2-0) battled back to retire Tyler Harrington and then won an 11-pitch battle with Nick Hollifield, as he struck out the Blazer catcher.

David Harris moved the tying run into scoring position with a shift-busting single through the left-side of the infield, but Manning got Reed Latimer to ground out to end the game.

Troy finished the road trip at .500 after winning three of its final four before returning home this weekend for a three-game series against South Alabama, the Trojans first games at Riddle-Pace Field since Feb. 28.

Will Butcher continued his monster season with a solo homer in the first inning as the Trojans jumped out to a 4-0 lead behind a strong start on the mound from Brady Fuller, who went three shutout innings with a pair of strikeouts and a walk.

Ethan Kavanagh drove home runs with a single in the second and a grounder in the fifth after Myers led off the frame with his second triple of the season. Butcher followed with a double off the wall in the fifth and scored on Cobb's first hit of the game.

Cobb finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs to lead the Trojans, while Myers, Butcher and Gilroy each added a pair of hits. Manning tossed the final 2.1 innings to pick up the victory, while Ben Abernathy (1-2) took the loss for UAB, allowing a run on a hit in 1.1 innings.

After the Blazers cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the fifth, Troy broke it open with a 3-spot in the seventh as Brooks Bryan plated a run with a double to right-center, and Cobb punched a 2-run single past a drawn-in infield to push the Trojans' advantage out to 7-2.

The Blazers led off the eventful seventh with a walk, followed by two Troy errors around a strikeout. Jake Smallwood delivered a 2-run single following the second error, and Nick Hollifield followed with a 3-run double to center to push UAB in front.

Notable
• With his first inning home run, Will Butcher has now hit safely in 19-of-22 games and scored in 16-of-22 games this season.

• Will Butcher added a double in the fifth inning, his 11^th of the season. He entered the week ranked eighth nationally in the category. Coupled with his first inning home run, Tuesday marked the fourth time this season he had multiple extra-base hits in a game.

• With four extra-base hits in the game, Troy has three or more extra-base hits in 14-of-22 games this season and 11 games with four or more extra-base hits.

• Tremayne Cobb Jr. became the second Trojan to reach the 20-walk plateau just 22 games into the season after drawing a 2-out walk in the first inning. He added a 2-out, RBI single in the fifth and has now hit safely in 12 of the last 16 games.

• Tremayne Cobb Jr. drove in four runs, a season-high and his fourth multi-RBI game.

• Brooks Bryan has reached base in 10 straight games after drawing a first inning walk.

• After picking up a single in his first at-bat, Aidan Gilroy has now hit safely in 14-of-17 starts this season and in five straight contests. He added a single in the eighth inning for his fifth multi-hit game of the season.

• Kole Myers tripled to lead off the fifth inning; it was Troy's first triple on the road this season and first since Feb. 28 against Kent State, a span of 11 games. Myers added a single in the seventh inning for his ninth multi-hit game; he would go on to steal second for his 12^th bag of the year. He has now hit a home run or stolen a base in 13-of-22 games.

• Ethan Kavanagh's RBI single in the second marked his 19^th game with a hit this season in his 22 starts.

• Mikey Bello came off the bench in the top of the eighth inning and laid down just Troy's second sacrifice bunt of the season.