No. 22 Troy Enters Sun Belt Tournament as No. 3 Seed

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - No. 22 Troy opens its journey in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at 9 a.m. on Wednesday as the third-seeded Trojans will face sixth-seeded Old Dominion at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Ala..

The Trojans finished the regular season with a 37-19 record and picked up its third consecutive third-place finish in the Sun Belt with an 18-12 conference record. The Trojans landed three-players on the Sun Belt All-Conference Teams with first baseman Blake Cavill being named to the All-Sun Belt First Team and catcher Brooks Bryan and starting pitcher Garrett Gainous earning Second Team honors.

Cavill was an on-base machine for the Trojans all season long, reaching base safely in all 54 games played while owning an on-base streak of 61 games dating back to last season. The Sydney, Australia native closed the regular season as college baseball's leader in walks (64), which is one-shy of the Troy single season record of 65 set by Jorge Soto in 1999.

The powerful Bryan earned All-Sun Belt honors for the second consecutive season after ranking second in the conference in RBIs (59) and doubles (18) while launching a team-best 12 home runs. Bryan set the program record with 85 RBIs in 2024, and the junior's 156 career RBIs rank fifth in program history.

Gainous set the tone on Friday night's for the Trojans with a 6-1 record and a 3.83 ERA. The Trojans won eight of his ten starts, and the senior-right-hander struck out 51 hitters across 51.2 innings pitched to propel him to third in program history with 260 career strikeouts

Gainous made the first bullpen appearance of his career against Southern Miss on Friday after not pitching since April 17 against ULM. The senior right-hander pitched 3.0 innings with one hit, one run, four walks and three strikeouts. Gainous is set to start for the Trojans against ODU on Wednesday, a team that he pitched 7.0 shutout innings with two hits and six strikeouts against in a 7-0 Troy win on April 4.

The Sun Belt Tournament kicks off on Tuesday with a pair of elimination games as seventh-seeded Texas State faces tenth-seeded App State with eight-seeded Arkansas State matching up with ninth-seeded Georgia Southern.

The double-elimination portion of the tournament begins Wednesday. On Troy's side of the bracket, second-seeded Southern Miss awaits the winner of Texas State and App State. The winner of the Troy-ODU game will play the winner of Southern Miss' matchup at 4 p.m. on Thursday, while the two losers will play at 9 a.m. on Thursday.

Gameday Info
The Matchup: Troy (37-19, 18-12 SBC) vs. Old Dominion (21-29, 15-15 SBC)
Game Time: Wednesday, May 20 - 9 a.m.
Location: Montgomery, Ala. - Riverwalk Stadium
TV: ESPN+
Radio: Troy Sports Media Network
Live Stats: TroyStats.com

Probable Starters
ODU: Dylan Brown (4-2, 4.18 ERA, 75.1 IP), LHP, Jr.
Troy: Garrett Gainous (6-1, 3.83 ERA, 51.2 IP), RHP, Sr.

Quick Hitters

Troy was ranked No. 22 by the NCBWA and No. 25 by Baseball America in this week's Top 25 polls.
Troy landed three players on the All-Sun Belt Teams. First baseman Blake Cavill was named to the First Team while catcher Brooks Bryan and starting pitcher Garrett Gainous were named to the Second Team.
Troy's 17 road wins this season are tied for 13th nationally and tied for the eighth-most among Top 50 RPI teams.
Troy is the only team in college baseball that ranks in the top 20 nationally in both HBPs and walks. The Trojans rank 11th nationally in HBPs (116) and 17th in walks (309). Their 116 walks are a new single-season program record.
Blake Cavill finished the regular season as the nation's leader in walks (64). He enters the Sun Belt Tournament one walk shy of the Troy single-season record of 65 set by Jorge Soto in 1999.
Steven Meier's 27 HBPs this season set a new Troy single-season record. He broke the previous record of 25 held by Steven Felix (2010) and William Sullivan (2023).
Troy has three of the Sun Belt's top ten RBI producers in Brooks Bryan (2nd - 59), Blake Cavill (7th - 49) and Sean Darnell (9th - 48).
Garrett Gainous started Troy's 7-0 win at ODU on April 4. He pitched 7.0 shutout innings with two hits, four walks and six strikeouts. His sixth strikeout of the game made him the fourth pitcher in Troy history to record 250 career strikeouts.
Troy faced ODU starter Dylan Brown in a 4-3 win on April 5. Brown pitched 5.0 innings with five hits, three earned runs, three walks and four strikeouts. Troy third baseman Jimmy Janicki hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning.
Troy enters the Sun Belt Tournament as the No. 3 seed for the third consecutive season.

Troy University Athletics

No. 22 Troy Enters Sun Belt Tournament as No. 3 Seed

Players Mentioned

Brooks Bryan

Blake Cavill

Sean Darnell

Garrett Gainous

Jimmy Janicki

Steven Meier

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