Troy University Athletics
Troy University
17-6, 3-2
Coastal Carolina
17-6, 4-1
No. 18 Troy Surges Back to Defeat No. 16 Coastal Carolina 9-8
3/22/2025 8:55:00 PM | Baseball
TROY, Ala. - A four-run eighth inning powered No. 18 Troy to a 9-8 comeback victory over No. 16 Coastal Carolina to even the series at Riddle-Pace Field.
The Trojans had taken a 5-3 lead in the sixth inning with a four-run frame, but had given up the lead in the top of the eighth with a five-run inning from the Chanticleers. Troy stormed back against Coastal reliever Ryan Lynch, who entered the game with a 0.75 ERA.
Harrison Bowman set the tone with a leadoff single, and Gavin Schrader reached on a fielding error by the Coastal shortstop to follow it. Jakob Wax hit a one-out double to bring in two runs, and Jimmy Janicki brought him home on a pinch-hit single. After Steven Meier was hit by a pitch to load the bases, the Chanticleers turned to righty Darin Horn.
Horn struck out Sean Darnell to begin his outing, but the Trojans remained patient at the plate with two outs as Blake Cavill tied it with a hit by pitch before Brooks Bryan drew a walk to put Troy ahead 9-8.
Luke Lyon, who helped the Trojans escape the eighth by rolling a bases-loaded double play, closed things out in the ninth and earned the win. After a leadoff single, Lyon forced a flyout to left field for the first out. Coastal Ty Dooley followed by hitting a fly ball towards the right-center gap, but Troy right fielder Gavin Schrader made a diving catch and turned the double play at first to end the ball game.
On the mound, Noah Edders gave the Trojans a strong start with a season-high nine strikeouts. The junior right-hander pitched 6.0 innings and allowed eight hits, three earned runs and two walks. Edders stranded the bases loaded in the top of the first, pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the second, and struck out the side in the third.
The Troy offense scored just one run against Coastal starter Cameron Flukey across the first five innings, but knocked him out of the ballgame before he recorded an out in the sixth, pegging him for five earned runs total and scoring four in the inning.
Darnell led off with a walk, and Cavill, Bryan and Bowman followed it up with three straight singles cut the lead to 3-2. With one out, Dillon Kuehl singled into right field to bring in two runs and put the Trojans ahead, Wax picked up an RBI on a sacrifice bunt.
The rubber match between No. 18 Troy (17-6, 3-2 SBC) and No. 16 Coastal Carolina (17-6, 4-1 SBC) is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday at Riddle-Pace Field.
Quick Hitters
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Saturday's attendance at Riddle-Pace Field was 2,941, the largest crowd this season and ninth-largest in Troy history.
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Troy was outhit by Coastal Carolina 14-11. The Trojans are 5-2 when getting outhit this season.
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Troy committed zero errors. The Trojans are 7-2 when playing errorless defense.
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Steven Meier extended his on-base streak to 29 games dating back to last season, recording an HBP.
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Sean Darnell extended his hitting streak to nine games and on-base streak to 15 games, going 1-for-4 with a double and a walk.
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Blake Cavill extended his on-base streak to 30 games dating back to last season, going 2-for-3 with a walk and a HBP.
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Brooks Bryan went 1-for-4 with with a walk and two RBIs, bringing his season RBI total to 36. He entered the day as the Sun Belt leader with 34 RBIs.
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Harrison Bowman went 2-for-5, his third multi-hit game of the season.
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Dillon Kuehl went 1-for-4 with two RBIs, his third multi-RBI game of the season.
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Jakob Wax went 2-for-3 with two doubles, a sac bunt and three RBIs. It was his third multi-hit and third multi-RBI game of the season.
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Jimmy Janicki recorded a pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth inning, extending his on-base streak to 15 games.
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Noah Edders recorded nine strikeouts, which is the most by a Troy pitcher this season.
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Edders' nine strikeouts were his most as a Trojan, and one shy of his career. He recorded ten strikeouts in a game twice during his time at Bradley.
Quotables
Head Coach Skylar Meade on the team's fight…
"The fight and the continual fortitude. Obviously, we made some mistakes in the eighth. Some self endued. Some just not handling the moment, which is uncharacteristic for certain guys. But in the end, the guys got it out of their system."
On the eighth inning comeback…
"It might be cliche, but that's the name of the game. It doesn't matter the score. That's the beauty of baseball - there's no clock. In hoops we get down by 20 with a minute to go, mathematically we're in trouble. In football if we're down three touchdowns with two minutes left, we've got problems. Our sport, there's no clock, so we're always going to have a chance."
Blake Cavill on the team's offensive approach in the eighth…
"We're down three. One swing's not going to win the game. Harry [Bowman] starts off with a hit, and after that the boys just rolled."
Jakob Wax on his offensive hot streak…
"I'm confident. That's what you've got to be. It's a tough sport. It's not in our favor, but confidence always wins."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lyon, Luke (2-1)
L: Lynch, Ryan (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Barthol, Blake 2 ; Huffman, Kaleb 1 ; Thorndyke, Colby 1
HR: Barthol, Blake 1
RBI: Bodine, Caden 2 ; Barthol, Blake 2 ; Mitchell, Walker 1 ; Thorndyke, Colby 2 ; Dooley, Ty 1
SF: Bodine, Caden 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mihos, Dean 1 ; Barthol, Blake 1 ; Rodriguez, Freddy 1 ; Sykes, Wells 2 ; Thorndyke, Colby 2 ; Dooley, Ty 1
HBP: Alexander, Sebastian 1 ; Barthol, Blake 1 ; Sykes, Wells 1
Batting:
2B: Darnell, Sean 1 ; Wax, Jakob 2
RBI: Cavill, Blake 1 ; Bryan, Brooks 2 ; Kuehl, Dillon 2 ; Wax, Jakob 3 ; Janicki, Jimmy 1
SH: Wax, Jakob 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Darnell, Sean 1 ; Cavill, Blake 1 ; Bryan, Brooks 1 ; Bowman, Harrison 2 ; Schrader, Gavin 2 ; Wax, Jakob 1 ; Markham, Houston 1
HBP: Meier, Steven 1 ; Cavill, Blake 1
