Troy University Athletics
Troy University
24-11, 0
Appalachian State
19-12, 0
Troy Baseball, Luke Lyon Run Rules App State in Game One, Falls in Game Two
4/13/2024 9:04:00 PM | Baseball
BOONE, N.C. -- A rollercoaster ride summarized Saturday afternoon's doubleheader at Beaver Field as Troy baseball run-ruled App State, 17-2, in game one before falling to the run rule, 11-1 in game two.
Game One – Troy 17, App State 2
Troy made its presence known throughout game one, earning a season-high 17 walks through eight innings while every player in the lineup made it safely on base. Ethan Kavanagh (2), Will Butcher (2) and Brooks Bryan (4) all had multi-hit games as No. 17 earned five RBIs, and Luke Lyon (5-1) earned his second straight complete game with 8.0 IP.
The top of the third saw three walks load the bases before Bryan sent a 2-1 single through the right side for Troy's first hit and run, 1-0. Troy's next two runs, 3-0, came via earned walks from Tremayne Cobb Jr. and Aidan Gilroy. A wild pitch capped off Troy's four-run inning as Cobb Jr. capitalized for a 4-0 lead.
The Mountaineers answered back in the bottom of the inning with a 2-2 homer to left field, 4-1, to trim the early deficit to three.
Five straight hits for Troy led to a five-run inning in the fifth as Butcher singled to right field, allowing Bryan to send a 448-foot shot to the batter's eye for two runs, 7-1. Cobb Jr. and Kyle Mock continued the hit streak with a 3-1 double and 1-2 single, respectively. Gilroy brought Cobb Jr. home, 8-1, four pitches later with a double to left center. Then, a 4-0 walk by Peyton Watts put runners on first and third, allowing a Blake Sutton sac fly to score Mock, 8-1. Troy's ninth walk loaded the bases back up, and Kavanagh forced the decision for App State by putting it in play, allowing the fielder's choice to score the ninth run, 9-1.
Both sides exchanged a run, with App State scoring on a sac fly by CJ Floyd after Joseph Zamora tripled to center field in the sixth, 9-2. Troy responded in the top of the seventh with three walks, which meant a 1-1 single by Kavanagh would bring in Sutton, 10-2.
Inning No. 8 for Troy saw seven runs, four hits, five walks and two errors by the Mountaineers to put the run-rule into effect, 17-2. Butcher started it off with a solo shot to left field, 11-2, for his 11th homer of 2024. With two outs on the board, Mock and Gilroy walked before Watts hit an RBI single and an error by App State allowed two to score, 13-2. A wild pitch and two walks later, Kavanagh grabbed his fourth RBI on a single through the left side, 15-2. The order went all the way through with a 17th walk by the Mountaineers for Butcher and Bryan finished his five RBI game on a 0-1 single through the right side, 17-2. Lyon finished the job with a pair of fly outs and a ground out to Butcher for a game-one win.
Game Two – App State 11, Troy 1
App State started in the first with a solo shot by Banks Tolley, 1-0, followed by a Boyd homer in the third, 2-0.
Bryan answered for Troy in the top of the fourth, eyeing his first pitch with two outs on the board and sending his second homer of the day to left field, 2-1. The Trojans had a chance to keep it rolling after Cobb Jr. made it safely to first on an error for App and Mock's third walk of the day. But Jackson Steensma (4-1) handled business to get out of the inning with a ground out.
The offenses remained quiet until the fifth inning, where App exploded with five runs off five hits, one walk, one error and two passed balls. A single by Boyd (1) and a pair of homers from Austin St. Laurent (3) and Braxton Church (1) pushed the advantage to 7-1. They kept ballooning the lead to eight, 9-1, one inning later, on back-to-back doubles and a third passed ball.
App's exclamation point came in the seventh with a walk-off two-RBI home run from Graham Smiley to run-rule the Trojans, 11-1, and even the series.
Garrett Gainous (1-2) impressed through his four innings despite taking the loss for Troy, striking out three batters with 16 at-bats and giving up just the two solo shots for hits.
Head Coach Skylar Meade
"Today is exactly what college baseball doubleheaders look like. In one game, a team looks like world-beaters, and the next, they don't look very good. Unfortunately, neither team gets brownie points for how they played today. I got to tip my hat to Brooks Bryan, who played great in both games and Luke Lyon, who was the story of the day in game one. I really thought Garrett was extremely competitive, especially with how versatile he is post-surgery. But today was the nature of college baseball. We really felt like game two should've been a tight one until the end, but we didn't execute and paid for it. Credit to App State and for their staff getting them to bounce back after game one. But tomorrow, we get to play for it all, and I can't wait to get going."
Up Next
The series finale between Troy and App State is set for Sunday at noon, and both sides want to claim it all.
Doubleheader Stats
• Bryan hammered a 448-foot homer to center field, marking the team's 51st home run of 2024 and his 10thand 13th in No. 17's career – became the second Trojan with double-digit homers. He managed No. 11 and 14, respectively, in game two.
• When Troy gets a homer, its chances of winning continue to improve, sitting at 18-8. Even when it doesn't, it's still 5-3.
• In Lyon's back-to-back complete games, he's earned two victories through 15 IP with eight hits, three walks, two runs and 10 strikeouts.
• After scoring single digits in 11-of-12 games from March 12 – 30, the Trojans have scored 10-plus runs in five of its last seven – totaling 85 runs.
• With the victory in the series and doubleheader opener, the Trojans' record improves to 6-3 and 2-2, respectively.
• The Trojans totaled 18 walks on Saturday, boosting their numbers to 239, placing them atop the nation – four above South Carolina (235).
• With a five-RBI performance in game one, Bryan has two this season alone.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lyon, Luke (5-1)
L: Wilson, Bradley (1-3)
Batting:
2B: Cobb Jr., Tremayne 1 ; Gilroy, Aidan 1
HR: Butcher, Will 1 ; Bryan, Brooks 1
RBI: Kavanagh, Ethan 4 ; Butcher, Will 1 ; Bryan, Brooks 5 ; Cobb Jr., Tremayne 1 ; Gilroy, Aidan 2 ; Watts, Peyton 1 ; Sutton, Blake 1
SF: Sutton, Blake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Myers, Kole 2 ; Kavanagh, Ethan 1 ; Butcher, Will 2 ; Bryan, Brooks 2 ; Cobb Jr., Tremayne 2 ; Mock, Kyle 1 ; Sessions, Parker 1 ; Gilroy, Aidan 2 ; Watts, Peyton 1 ; Sutton, Blake 2 ; Pettys, Ryan 1
SB: Myers, Kole 1
CS: Gilroy, Aidan 1
Batting:
3B: Zamora, Joseph 1
HR: Boyd, CJ 1
RBI: Boyd, CJ 2
SF: Boyd, CJ 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Boyd, CJ 1 ; Zamora, Joseph 1
CS: Tolley, Banks 1
