No. 3 Troy Baseball Rallies Back to Top No. 6 App State

Wednesday, May 22

Montgomery, Ala.

9 a.m.

Troy University

37-20

App State

31-20-1

App State

Troy

No. 3 Troy Baseball Rallies Back to Top No. 6 App State

5/22/2024 12:53:00 PM | Baseball

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – No. 3 Troy baseball found itself down 0-4 on a no-hitter through four innings Wednesday morning at Riverwalk Stadium before rallying back with a six-run fifth inning to defeat No. 6 App State, 6-5, and advance into the next round.

App State (31-20-1) played perfectly through the first four innings, taking a 4-0 lead off a pair of bombs from CJ Boyd. The first came in the top of the first when Troy (37-20) got two outs on the board, but Banks Tolley earned a full count walk, and Boyd took his second pitch to left field, 2-0. He followed it in the third with two outs as Tolley got HBP, and Boyd took it to the same spot, 4-0.

App State's Dante Chirico (4-2) pitched a no-hitter through the first four until Brooks Bryan tallied his 83^rd RBI of 2024 with a 1-0 bomb to right center, tallying 411 feet to put Troy on the board, 4-1, in the bottom of the fifth. Bryan sparked the Troy bats as Tremayne Cobb Jr., Kyle Mock and Aidan Gilroy hit a trio of singles to load the bases.

Shane Lewis battled after finding himself down 1-2 in the count to earn a full-count walk, which scored Cobb Jr., 4-2. Then, Kole Myers tapped a 2-RBI double to center field, down 0-2 in the count, to score Mock and Gilroy and tie the game at four apiece.

Ethan Kavanagh continued the onslaught with a 1-2 single that blooped into left field to take a 5-4 lead – scored Lewis. Will Butcher earned a full-count walk to put runners on the corners, and Bryan got his second RBI of the inning with a sac fly to left field, giving Mock time to advance home, 6-4.

Both sides stayed quiet until the eighth when Adam Quintero singled to right field on a 1-2 count for App State, and Hunter Wilder earned a 4-0 walk. Joseph Zamora took a single through the right side on his first pitch, bringing Quintero around from second, 6-5. A fielding error loaded the bases, but Logan Ross, Myers and Gilroy took care of business with a flyout to No. 5, and Gilroy made the unassisted play at third to hold the Mountaineers.

Ross pitched three innings with three strikeouts, three hits and one earned run before Jay Dill came in for the top of the ninth. Dill took care of business to earn his third save, striking out Boyd 0-3, Xavier Moronta 2-3 and Quintero 1-3 to advance the Trojans.

The Trojans' bullpen earned 11 strikeouts, with Grayson Stewart (4-2) taking the victory on 2.0 IP, two hits, zero runs and four strikeouts.

Head Coach Skylar Meade
"This all felt very déjà vu of 2023 being the three seed with a 9 a.m. start against App State. Credit to Kermit and his crew. Their offense is terrifying, with a bunch of great players. You knew it was going to be a battle. Coach Ben Wolgamat challenged the batters before the fifth inning and Brooks responded with that homer to right center. From there, the offense got to work and allowed our pitchers in 'Stew' and Ross to take it from there. Ross took the reins and had an emotional eighth inning. Our team stayed composed and got the job done there in the eighth and Dill came in and was pretty nasty. Overall, a good day for the Trojans, but we still have work to do."

Up Next
The Trojans advance to the next round to face the No. 2 Southern Miss on Thursday at 4 p.m.

Round One Numbers
• Troy's 'RBI King' Bryan grabbed a pair in the fifth to push his season total to 84 and hit home run No. 18 through 2024.
• Troy trailed 4-0 through the first four innings but rallied back for the 6-5 victory, tallying its 16 come-from-behind win of 2024.
• Dill entered in the ninth to earn his third save of 2024, pitching one inning with a trio of strikeouts.
• Troy's pitchers finished with 11 strikeouts for the 18^th game with 10-plus Ks – have struck out seven or more batters in 41-of-57 games in 2024.
• For just the third time in Troy history, the team eclipsed 500 runs in a single season, pushing the total to 505 – third most all-time.
• Stewart grabbed his fourth victory of 2024 and pitched four strikeouts, moving him to one shy of the eighth-most wins in a Troy career and into seventh for the most Ks in a career.