Troy University Athletics
Thursday, May 15
Troy, Ala.
6 p.m.
Troy University
vs
Southern Miss
No. 14 Troy Hosts No. 19 Southern Miss in Ranked Regular Season Finale
5/14/2025 4:00:00 PM | Baseball
TROY, Ala. - A ranked matchup is on the card at Riddle-Pace Field this weekend as No. 14 Troy is set to host No. 19 Southern Miss in the regular season finale Thursday-Saturday.Â
Troy (37-1, 18-9 Sun Belt) is locked into at least the three-seed in next week's Sun Belt Tournament, and can trade spots with Southern Miss (38-13, 21-6 Sun Belt) for the two-seed by sweeping the Golden Eagles. The Trojans are the only team in college baseball to win all 13 of its weekend series this season, and the only Sun Belt team to win all nine conference series.
Trojan catcher Brooks Bryan was named the Week 13 Sun Belt Player of the Week, recording the first multi-home run game of his career in Troy's win over Samford on Wednesday before homering twice in the 2-1 series victory at Arkansas State over the weekend. The junior from Opelika, Ala., went 7-for-16 on the week, racking up two doubles, a triple, four home runs, six walks and seven RBIs while catching two base stealers from behind the plate.
On the mound, Troy reliever Jay Dill had a historic performance in Troy's 9-8 win in 12 innings at Arkansas State on Friday. The senior right-hander struck out 11 across five innings of work, the most strikeouts by a Trojan reliever this century. After Jakob Wax delivered a go-ahead home run in the top of the 12th, Dill struck out the side to end the ballgame.Â
Senior Shane Lewis was the hero of Saturday's 8-7 win over the Red Wolves, launching a pinch-hit, three-run home run in the top of the eighth inning to put the Trojans ahead. It was the 40th home run of Lewis' career, which is the fifth-most in Troy history.
Freshman Noah Thigpen will get the start for the Trojans in game one. The righty owns a 4.46 ERA in 38.1 innings pitched this season, and boasts an impressive 32-to-7 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Thigpen has walked just 4.2% of hitters this season, which is the third-best walk rate in the Sun Belt. Head coach Skylar Meade has not unveiled his pitching plans for games two and three.
Gameday Info
The Matchup: No. 14 Troy (37-16, 18-9 Sun Belt) vs. No. 19 Southern Miss (38-13, 21-6 Sun Belt)
Game Times: Thursday - 6 p.m. | Friday - 6 p.m. | Saturday - 3:33 p.m.
Location: Troy, Ala. - Riddle-Pace Field
TV: ESPN+
Radio: Troy Sports Media Network
Live Stats: TroyStats.com
Probable Starters
Game 1
Southern Miss: JB Middleton (9-1, 2.00 ERA, 85.1 IP), RHP, Jr.
Troy: Noah Thigpen (2-1, 4.46 ERA, 38.1 IP), RHP, Fr.
Game 2
Southern Miss: Matthews Adams (5-2, 4.45 ERA, 60.2 IP), RHP, Gr.
Troy: TBA
Game 3
Southern Miss: TBA
Troy: TBA
Quick Hitters
Scouting Southern Miss
Series History
Troy (37-1, 18-9 Sun Belt) is locked into at least the three-seed in next week's Sun Belt Tournament, and can trade spots with Southern Miss (38-13, 21-6 Sun Belt) for the two-seed by sweeping the Golden Eagles. The Trojans are the only team in college baseball to win all 13 of its weekend series this season, and the only Sun Belt team to win all nine conference series.
Trojan catcher Brooks Bryan was named the Week 13 Sun Belt Player of the Week, recording the first multi-home run game of his career in Troy's win over Samford on Wednesday before homering twice in the 2-1 series victory at Arkansas State over the weekend. The junior from Opelika, Ala., went 7-for-16 on the week, racking up two doubles, a triple, four home runs, six walks and seven RBIs while catching two base stealers from behind the plate.
On the mound, Troy reliever Jay Dill had a historic performance in Troy's 9-8 win in 12 innings at Arkansas State on Friday. The senior right-hander struck out 11 across five innings of work, the most strikeouts by a Trojan reliever this century. After Jakob Wax delivered a go-ahead home run in the top of the 12th, Dill struck out the side to end the ballgame.Â
Senior Shane Lewis was the hero of Saturday's 8-7 win over the Red Wolves, launching a pinch-hit, three-run home run in the top of the eighth inning to put the Trojans ahead. It was the 40th home run of Lewis' career, which is the fifth-most in Troy history.
Freshman Noah Thigpen will get the start for the Trojans in game one. The righty owns a 4.46 ERA in 38.1 innings pitched this season, and boasts an impressive 32-to-7 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Thigpen has walked just 4.2% of hitters this season, which is the third-best walk rate in the Sun Belt. Head coach Skylar Meade has not unveiled his pitching plans for games two and three.
Gameday Info
The Matchup: No. 14 Troy (37-16, 18-9 Sun Belt) vs. No. 19 Southern Miss (38-13, 21-6 Sun Belt)
Game Times: Thursday - 6 p.m. | Friday - 6 p.m. | Saturday - 3:33 p.m.
Location: Troy, Ala. - Riddle-Pace Field
TV: ESPN+
Radio: Troy Sports Media Network
Live Stats: TroyStats.com
Probable Starters
Game 1
Southern Miss: JB Middleton (9-1, 2.00 ERA, 85.1 IP), RHP, Jr.
Troy: Noah Thigpen (2-1, 4.46 ERA, 38.1 IP), RHP, Fr.
Game 2
Southern Miss: Matthews Adams (5-2, 4.45 ERA, 60.2 IP), RHP, Gr.
Troy: TBA
Game 3
Southern Miss: TBA
Troy: TBA
Quick Hitters
- Troy was ranked No. 14 in Monday's Baseball America Top 25 for the second consecutive week, which is the highest ranking in program history.
- Troy is the only team in college baseball to win all 13 of its weekend series this season and the only Sun Belt team to win all nine conference series.Â
- Troy's offense ranks 15th nationally in both walks (297) and hit-by-pitches (107). Troy's 107 HBPs are a single-season program record.
- Brooks Bryan was named the Week 13 Sun Belt Player of the Week after going 7-for-16 with two doubles, a triple, four home runs, six walks, one HBP and seven RBIs in five games last week.
- Â Jay Dill recorded 11 strikeouts in five innings out of the bullpen in Troy's 12-inning win at Arkansas State on Friday. It was the most strikeouts by a Troy reliever since at least 2000.Â
- Troy has three of the top ten RBI leaders in the Sun Belt in Brooks Bryan (3rd - 56), Blake Cavill (5th -Â 49) and Sean Darnell (T-9th - 46).
- Blake Cavill is tied for the nation's lead in walks (59) and he ranks tenth in on-base percentage (.530). His 59 walks are the third-most in a single season in Troy history, and he's seven shy of Kole Myers (66 - 2024) for the single-season record.
- Cavill is on a 58-game on-base streak dating back to last season. He's reached base safely in all 51 of his games played this season.
- Steven Meier ranks second in the Sun Belt and 17th nationally in hit-by-pitches (23). He is two HBPs shy of the Troy single season record of 25 owned by Steven Felix (2010) and William Sullivan (2023).Â
- Since re-entering the starting lineup on April 26, Peyton Watts leads Troy with a .414 batting average (12-29).Â
Scouting Southern Miss
- Southern Miss was ranked in all five major polls this week. The Golden Eagles were ranked No. 19 by D1Baseball, the NCBWA and the USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 21 by Perfect Game and No. 24 by Baseball America.Â
- The Southern Miss pitching staff ranks 19th nationally and second in the Sun Belt with a 4.12 team ERA.Â
- Game 1 starter JB Middleton ranks fifth nationally in ERA (2.00), fourth in hits allowed per nine innings (5.17) and 15th in strikeouts (98).
- Reliever Colby Allen leads the Sun Belt in saves (10).
- The Southern Miss offense leads the Sun Belt in batting average (.303) and home runs (87) while ranking fourth in the league in runs per game (7.2).
- The Golden Eagles have six hitters with a batting average above .300 in Jake Cook (.354), Tucker Stockman (.336), Nick Monistere (.330), Ben Higdon (.327), Joey Urban (.323) and Ozzie Pratt (.306). Cook's .354 average ranks third in the Sun Belt.
- Monistere and Matthew Russo are tied for second in the Sun Belt in home runs (17) with Carson Paetow is tied for sixth (15).
Series History
- Southern Miss leads the all-time series 40-15.
- The Trojans are 2-6 against the Golden Eagles since Southern Miss' first season in the Sun Belt in 2023. Southern Miss has won each series 2-1 while winning both matchups in the conference tournament.
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