Season-High Five Homers Launches Troy Baseball into Series Win Over App State

Sunday, April 14

Boone, N.C.

12 p.m.

Troy University

25-12, 9-6

Appalachian State

20-13, 6-9

Troy

App State

Season-High Five Homers Launches Troy Baseball into Series Win Over App State

4/14/2024 5:27:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Troy Athletics Communications

BOONE, N.C. -- Five home runs, including back-to-back-to-back from Kyle Mock, Aidan Gilroy and Ben Arnett in the sixth, launched Troy baseball to a 12-5 series finale win Sunday afternoon over App State in Beaver Field.

In a day full of homers, Mock stood above the rest with a pair of home runs to add to his 4-for-5 day with a double in the ninth to boost – totaled two RBIs and three runs. Overall, the Trojans (25-12, 9-6 SBC) hammered a season-high five homers from Mock (2), Gilroy (1), Arnett (1) and Peyton Watts (1) to finish one shy of their season-high in hits (18).

Troy rattled off the first run of the ballgame, 1-0, when Ethan Kavanagh started Troy off with a 1-1 single through the right side. A fielder's choice on Will Butcher and a single to left field by Brooks Bryan put runners on first and second. Tremayne Cobb Jr. put the punctuation mark with a 2-1 RBI single to right field, scoring Butcher.

App State (20-13, 6-9 SBC) kept the bats rolling from game two on Saturday when Austin St. Laurent hit a two-run homer to right field, 2-1. A single for Banks Tolley allowed a triple by Braxton Church and a 1-2 ground out by Drew Holderbach to push the Mountaineer advantage to four, 4-1, in the first. The second inning saw more from App when Hunter Wilder got the 4-0 walk, and a sac bunt advanced him to second. From there, St. Laurent had his third RBI of the day on a double to right field, 5-1.

The rest of the game was all Troy, and it started in the third with its first of five homers came from Peyton Watts to left field, down 0-2 in the count, 5-2. Troy's early rally continued with a single by Kole Myers, a walk by Kavanagh and a fielder's choice by Butcher put runners on first and third. Bryan finished the job with his second hit, taking his first pitch to score Myers, 5-3.

Butcher continued the slow rally, 5-4, in the fifth when he put the ball in play after Myers walked and stole second, and Kavanagh singled to center field. The rally paid off in the sixth when back-to-back-to-back home runs were sent by Troy for the first time since the seventh inning at Kennesaw State on April 22, 2015. Through seven pitches, Mock sent his second pitch to right field, Gilroy to left center on a full count and Arnett to left center in his first start since last year at UCF, as Troy took the 7-5 lead.

The home parade continued in the eighth when Mock flipped the field, sending his third pitch 395 feet to right field, 8-5. Troy settled down via home runs but kept the runs coming as Gilroy singled through the left side for his second hit of the day. A walk by Arnett and a wild pitch advanced them to second and third. After putting one out on the board, Myers knocked a two-RBI single to first base as Arnett and Gilroy scored, 10-5. Then, Kavanagh singled to first base before a passed ball scored Myers and advanced No. 1 to second. That allowed Butcher to finish Troy's five-run inning with a single, which brought Kavanagh home, 12-5, for No. 15's first RBI.

Run No. 13 for Troy came in the ninth as Mock put the finishing touches on his 4-for-5 day with a double to left field. After a pair of outs, Watts tacked on the 13^th run with a 3-2 single to right field, 13-5. The bottom of the ninth saw Noah Manning finish the game with two strikeouts and a fielder's choice to remain undefeated against the Mountaineers in regular season series at 8-0.

Logan Ross (6-4) got credited with the win with 4.0 IP, no earned runs, two hits and six strikeouts through 70 pitches.

Head Coach Skylar Meade
"Fun day at the yard. It didn't start that way through the first couple of innings, but the middle and end were solid for us. App has such a good team and such a dynamic lineup, so when you can go on the road and win against a high-quality team in the fashion that we did, it's a huge confidence booster. Not that we lack any confidence. It took a high ability of toughness to overcome getting punched in the mouth early. But Mock and so many guys were able to connect their bats. Just an overall good job by multiple parties, and I loved our dugout today."

Up Next
Troy stays on the road for a Tuesday night matchup against Samford at the Joe Lee Griffin Field – first pitch is set for 6 p.m.

Finale Stats
• Myers took over the Sun Belt leaderboard with his 19^th steal of 2024 and 32^nd of his career – he's stolen a base or hit a homer in 20 of his 37 games played.
• Arnett made his first career start since UCF on March 10, 2023, at left field and hit his first career homer as a Trojan in the sixth.
• Five homers blasted by the Trojans, set a new season-high – previous was four at Indiana on March 9.
• For the first time since the seventh inning on April 22, 2015, at Kennesaw State, the Trojans hit back-to-back-to-back homers via Mock, Gilroy and Arnett.
• With the series finale victory, the Trojans win the series against App State to remain undefeated in program history in all-time regular season series against the Mountaineers – sit at 8-0 and 5-3 in series finales.
• With 18 hits, Troy was one shy of tying its season high for hits in a game, set in game two of 2024 against SIU-Edwardsville on Feb. 17 with 19.
• Two Trojans in Bryan (.571) and Mock (.500) finished the App State series at .500-plus in batting average.