No. 19 Troy Drops Pitcher's Duel at No. 17 Alabama

Wednesday, March 5

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

4 p.m.

Troy University

11-2

Alabama

14-0

Troy

Alabama

No. 19 Troy Drops Pitcher's Duel at No. 17 Alabama

3/5/2025 8:44:00 PM | Baseball

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - No. 19 Troy dropped a pitcher's duel to No. 17 Alabama on Wednesday, falling 3-1 at Sewell-Thomas Stadium

The Trojans got 5.0 strong innings from senior Adam Falinski, the deepest he's gone into a ballgame this season. Falinski held the Crimson Tide to six hits with two walks while striking out one, but got beat by All-SEC shortstop Justin Lebron for a two-run home run in the third inning.

Falinski escaped a base-loaded, one-out situation in the fourth with an infield popup and a groundout and followed it with a 1-2-3 fifth. A pair of infield singles by Alabama to lead off the sixth caused Troy to make a call to the bullpen, bringing in senior Colby Frieda.

The Kentucky transfer pitched a career-high 3.0 innings and recorded nine outs in nine batters faced with one strikeout, but he allowed one of the runners he inherited in the sixth to score on a fielder's choice.

Falinski and Frieda held Alabama to three runs, which is the fewest the Crimson Tide have scored this season. Alabama entered the game ranking fourth in the country in scoring with 11.9 runs per game.

Offensively, Troy outhit Alabama 7-6, but only recorded multiple hits once in the fourth inning as Blake Cavill drove in a run on a groundout after singles by Jakob Wax and Steven Meier. Alabama starter J.T. Blackwood went 4.0 innings, allowing five hits and one run, while lefty Matthew Heiberger pitched 4.0 innings in relief and held the Trojans to one hit. Righty Carson Ozmer closed it out in the ninth, allowing one hit to Shane Lewis.

Quick Hitters

Troy hit outhit Alabama 7-6. It's the Trojans' first loss when they outhit their opponent. Troy is now 8-1 when recording more hits than its opponent.
The Troy offense drew one walk, their fewest this season.
Steven Meier went 1-for-4, extending his on-base streak to 20 games dating back to last season.
Blake Cavill went 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI, extending his on-base streak to 20 games dating back to last season.
Cavill drove in Troy's lone run on a groundout in the third inning. His 16 RBIs this season are tied for fourth in the Sun Belt Conference.
Mike Bello went 1-for-4, extending his on-base streak to nine games.
Shane Lewis went 1-for-4, extending his on-base streak to eight games.
Jimmy Janicki went 2-for-4, extending his on-base streak to seven games. It was the first multi-hit game of his career.
Jakob Wax made the first start of his career, playing shortstop. He went 1-for-2 with a single, a sac bunt and a run scored.
Alabama entered the game as the nation's No. 4 scoring offense at 11.9 runs per game. The Troy pitching staff held the Crimson Tide to three runs, the fewest that Alabama has scored this season.
The Troy pitching staff recorded two strikeouts, as Adam Falinski and Colby Frieda each recorded one apiece. It's Troy's fewest strikeouts in a game since Luke Lyon threw an eight-inning complete game with one strikeout in a 17-2 win over App State (4/13/24) last season.
Falinski pitched 5.0 innings, which is a season high. It was his deepest outing since going 7.0 innings against Bowling Green (4/30/22) as a redshirt freshman at Eastern Michigan.
Colby Frieda pitched 3.0 innings, which is a career high. He had gone 2.0 innings twice during his three seasons at Kentucky.
Frieda allowed zero hits. Opponents are batting .138 off him this season.

Quotable - Head Coach Skylar Meade

"I thought our pitching and defense were so solid. We're locked in on all fronts there, making plays and making some tough plays. We got, got a little bit offensively. Blackwood kind of skated around some hits - we couldn't get that big game-changing hit. Heiberger kept running that fastball in, and we couldn't hit the barrel in the right spot."

Next Up

The Trojans' loss to Alabama was the first game of a nine-game road swing. Troy heads to Spartanburg, S.C., this weekend for a three-game series at USC Upstate Friday-Sunday.