Troy Baseball ‘Seizes the Moment’ to Win Game Two & Series Over No. 18 Louisiana

Saturday, May 4

Troy, Ala.

3:33 p.m.

Troy University

34-14, 16-7

Louisiana

33-15, 17-6

Louisiana

Troy

Troy Baseball ‘Seizes the Moment’ to Win Game Two & Series Over No. 18 Louisiana

5/4/2024 7:57:00 PM | Baseball

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. – With No. 18 Louisiana breathing down Troy's neck 5-4 in the seventh on Saturday afternoon, Jay Dill, Peyton Watts and Mikey Bello seized their moments to push the program to a series victory, 8-4, at Riddle-Pace Field.

Defense rang strong through the first three innings on both sides before the fourth broke out the first runs when Trey LaFleur doubled down the left field line on his first pitch – advanced to third on a line out to Kole Myers. Caleb Stelly battled to a full count before singling up the middle for the first run, 1-0.

Brooks Bryan tied the game himself in the bottom half with RBI No. 78 and homer No. 17, sending a solo shot to left field measured at 379 feet to tie the game, 1-1.

Louisiana (33-15, 17-6 SBC) matched Bryan's homer via Jose Torress in the fifth on a left-field bomb with a 1-2 count, 2-1. However, the Trojans (34-14, 16-7 SBC) broke out the bats in the bottom half with back-to-back singles from Ben Arnett and Watts before Ethan Kavanagh earned a full-count walk to load the bases. A wild pitch after a change at the mound for Louisiana scored Arnett, 2-2, and Will Butcher earned another full-count walk to reload the diamond. Bryan seized the moment to bring his season RBI total to 80, 4-2, – one shy of tying the all-time single-season record at Troy – with a 2-RBI single to right field, which brought Watts and Kavanagh home.

A second home run of the game for Troy and the weekend for Kyle Mock came in the bottom of the sixth when he sent a 412-foot shot over the right field wall to push the lead to three, 5-2.

Luke Yuhasz opened the Ragin' Cajuns' rally in the seventh with an 0-1 double down the right field line – advanced to third on a wild pitch. Aidan Gilroy kept Louisiana off the board temporarily when Torress sent one to him, and he chose to get Yuhasz out at home – Torress advanced to second on the throw. LaFleur broke through with a 1-1 RBI single up the middle, scoring Torress from second, 5-3. After a groundout advanced LaFleur to second, DeBarge brought him to third with a single to right field, and John Taylor brought him home on another single to right center, 5-4. That's when Jay Dill entered the mound and seized his moment, ending the inning with a groundout to himself.

Inning No. 8 saw Troy go down early on a pair of strikeouts but matched with walks from Mock and Gilroy. Mikey Bello stepped up to the plate as the pinch hitter and seized his moment with his 16^th hit of 2024, finding the gap to right field to score pinch runner Matt Mercer, 6-4. Watts also saw his moment and seized it with a 1-2 double to center field, bringing Troy's lead to four, 8-4 – scored pinch runner Parker Sessions and Gilroy.

Dill finished the job with his first save, striking out Louisiana's top batter LaFluer swinging before getting the line out to Kavanagh and ground out to Watts to clinch the series, 8-4.

Luke Lyon (7-2) captured his seventh win of 2024 with five innings pitched, earning four strikeouts while allowing just two runs on five hits. With his first save, Dill pitched 2.1 innings on one hit, zero runs and two strikeouts through eight batters.

Head Coach Skylar Meade
"Not much more a team win than that. So many guys competed, and so many had their moments. Particularly Dill and Bello. This was just a good team win across the board. The crowd was again electric, and I hope it's the same tomorrow when we go for the sweep. Every day counts, and your opportunity will come. Bello took advantage of every day and proved to us that he was prepared to go, and he did just that. We've been saying that Dill's been close to finishing an outing. He's had partial shine and small moments, but today he finished. He had his day. We knew this was going to be a fight. And the important thing when you're fighting is not to change your game plan and what you do. We've done a great job expanding leads all season, and today, we did it again."

Up Next
The series concludes tomorrow at 1 p.m. between the Trojans and Ragin' Cajuns in Riddle-Pace Field, looking for the sweep.

Game Two Numbers
• Bryan and Arnett continue to expand their career-long hit streak with 16 and nine, respectively.
• The eighth straight win marks the longest win streak of 2024 for the Trojans – previously seven from Feb. 18 – 28.
• No. 17 totaled his 21^st multi-RBI game with three on a 2-for-4 day. He also pushed his season total to 80 for RBIs, sitting two away from the most in a single season for Troy.
• Bello's pinch-hit RBI single marked his 16^th hit of 2024 and first since April 19 against Georgia State.
• The series win marks Troy's fifth straight SBC series victory, taking down Arkansas State, App State, Georgia State, No. 12 Coastal Carolina and now No. 18 Louisiana – record is 12-2 in that span.