Baseball Visits Indiana for Three-Game Set; Weekend Schedule Altered

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Troy is set for a marquee weekend series at Indiana as the Trojans are in Bloomington for a three-game set beginning Saturday at 1 p.m. (CT). It's a matchup between a pair of NCAA Regional squads from a year ago, as Troy played in the Tuscaloosa Regional and Indiana was the three-seed in the Lexington Regional.

The schedule for the weekend has been altered due to the threat of rain in the Bloomington area, the series will now start on Saturday at 1 p.m. with a single game and then a doubleheader on Sunday starting at 10 a.m.

What: Troy (10-4) at Indiana (8-4)
Date: March 9 | March 10
Time: 1 p.m. | 10 a.m. (DH)
Location: Bloomington, Indiana
Radio: Troy Sports Radio Network - 94.7 FM | TroyTrojans.com
TV: Big Ten+

PROJECTED STARTING PITCHERS (Troy vs. Indiana)

Game One – TBA vs. TBA
Game Two – TBA vs. TBA
Game Three – TBA vs. TBA

The games are five through seven of Troy's (10-4) current 12-game road trip, its longest regular season road swing since 1992. The Trojans are 1-3 on the trip, following a narrow 8-7 loss at No. 13 Alabama on Wednesday.

The Trojans out-hit the Crimson Tide 11-9 in the game, but a pair of early errors led to two unearned runs, which proved to be the difference in a back-and-forth game that featured two ties and five lead changes.

Troy leads the all-time series with Indiana by a 4-2 margin, including a three-game sweep of the Hoosiers in 2022 at Riddle-Pace Field in head coach Skylar Meade's first season at Troy.

Neither squad has announced their projected starting rotation for the weekend. The Trojans enter the series with a balanced workload between its starters and bullpen, with the starters carrying 49 percent of the innings and pitching to a 4.20 ERA, while the bullpen has tossed 51 percent of the frames to a 4.32 ERA.

The Trojans enter with two of the nation's top arms in right-handers Luke Lyon and Clete Hartzog. Lyon leads the country with a 0.48 WHIP, ranks third allowing 1.84 hits per nine innings and is 18^th with a 0.61 ERA, while Hartzog is one spot ahead, 15^th nationally with a 0.54 ERA through his three starts.

Indiana has played a challenging early schedule featuring four Top 25 opponents, which it split 2-2, defeating No. 25 Dallas Baptist (9-7) and No. 18 Coastal Carolina (7-2) and losing to No. 12 Duke (6-3) and No. 16 Alabama (12-0).

The Hoosiers were picked to finish second in the Big Ten preseason poll behind Iowa and featured four players on the Big Ten Preseason Players to Watch, including Preseason Player of the Year Devin Taylor.

Notable
• Troy enters the weekend ranked among the nation's leaders in multiple categories - doubles (7), shutouts (10), base on balls (13), runs (13), on-base percentage (16), hit by pitch (21), hits (18), home runs (19) and slugging percentage (24).

• Individually, Luke Lyon leads the country with a 0.48 WHIP and ranks 20th with a 0.61 ERA, while Clete Hartzog ranks 17th with a 0.54 ERA. Lyon is also third in hits allowed per nine (1.84).

• Offensively, Kole Myers ranks sixth nationally in walks (17) and fourth in third scored (22), while ranking 16th in home runs (6) and 12th in stolen bases (9). He ranked eighth nationally in WAR, 1.18, heading into the week.

• Shortstop Tremayne Cobb Jr. ranked 15th nationally and third among shortstops, with 2.72 defensive runs saved, entering the week.

• 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).

• Other Troy players ranked nationally: Will Butcher - doubles (2), RBIs (2); Brooks Bryan - RBIs (7); Ethan Kavanagh - runs (3) hits (5)

• Troy played six straight games without an error from the series finale against SIUE through game one against Kent State; it was the longest such streak by a Troy team since 2013.

• Troy has hit multiple home runs in eight of its last 11 games.

• Troy pitchers have allowed two or fewer extra-base hits in nine of the last 12 games; in contrast, Troy hitters have collected three or more extra-base hits in 10 of its 14 games and have four or more in seven games.

• Troy has scored 6-plus runs in an inning five times this season.

• Among active DI players, Will Butcher ranks fifth in career RBIs (158), eighth in games played (191) and 36th in home runs (32). Tremayne Cobb Jr. checks in 24th in career stolen bases (51), while Garrett Gainous and Grayson Stewart are tied for 33rd with 15 career wins.

• Not counting his rain-shortened outing in the NCAA Regional, Grayson Stewart outlasted his opponent on the mound in 16-of-1 outings the last two seasons; Troy is 14-2 in those games.

• Troy closer Noah Manning has held opponents without an earned run in 13 of his last 15 appearances, pitching to a 1.62 ERA with 15 strikeouts in 16.2 innings.

• Troy batters have been hit by multiple pitches in 7-of-14 games ... coupled with walks, the Trojans are averaging 8.3 free base runners per game. Troy was only hit by two pitches in the series at Northwestern State and averaged just 4.67 free base runners.

Baseball Visits Indiana for Three-Game Set; Weekend Schedule Altered

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Players Mentioned

Brooks Bryan

Will Butcher

Tremayne Cobb Jr.

Garrett Gainous

Clete Hartzog

Ethan Kavanagh

Luke Lyon

Noah Manning

Kole Myers

Grayson Stewart

Troy University Athletics