Troy University Athletics
Friday, February 13
Macon, Ga.
5 p.m.
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Troy Falls to Mercer on Opening Day
2/13/2026 9:28:00 PM | Baseball
MACON, Ga. - Troy baseball fell in a pitcher's duel on Opening Day, as a walk-off homer by Mercer's Chris Katz in the bottom of the ninth pushed the Bears to a 4-3 win.
The Trojans had an opportunity in the top of the ninth, as a two-out walk by Jimmy Janicki loaded the bases, putting some pressure on Mercer reliever Collin Ewaldsen. The right-hander responded with a strikeout against Steven Meier, who had already walked three times on the day, to close out his second inning of work.
Senior lefty Zach Crotchfelt had a strong start to his outing in the bottom of the ninth, striking out the leadoff man Logan Shepherd, but Katz followed with a fly ball that just inched its way over the right field wall to end the ballgame.
It was the ending of any otherwise strong ballgame from a Troy pitching staff that had 12 strikeouts to three walks while allowing seven hits. Troy starter Tommy Egan, a transfer from UIC, pitched five innings of two-run ball, holding the Bears to three hits and one walk. The righty from Chicago cruised with four straight zeroes in his Troy debut after Mercer put up a pair of runs in the bottom of the first.
Blake Dean struck out two in an inning in relief, allowing one run in the sixth inning, while Cooper Ellingworth struck out three hitters across the seventh an eighth innings, stranding a pair of runners in both frames.
Offensively, the Trojans tallied five hits and eight walks and were led by Drew Nelson in the seven-spot. Playing right field for the first time in his career, the Troy native had an RBI groundout in the fourth inning the only run against Mercer starter Garrett Lambert in his 4.1 innings, and followed a Sean Darnell RBI double with a one-run single in the sixth.
Notables
"The box score can be cruel sometimes. You look at strike percentage. You look at some of the situations. They obviously had the impactful hit there after not hitting a lot of ball hard but had the one in the ninth that obviously ended it. Kudos to that kid. Zach Crotchfelt will be out there a lot because he's a winner. We love what he does and we certainly liked what we saw from the pitchers."
Next Up
The Trojans wrap up the series at Mercer with a double-header beginning at 1 p.m. CT.
The Trojans had an opportunity in the top of the ninth, as a two-out walk by Jimmy Janicki loaded the bases, putting some pressure on Mercer reliever Collin Ewaldsen. The right-hander responded with a strikeout against Steven Meier, who had already walked three times on the day, to close out his second inning of work.
Senior lefty Zach Crotchfelt had a strong start to his outing in the bottom of the ninth, striking out the leadoff man Logan Shepherd, but Katz followed with a fly ball that just inched its way over the right field wall to end the ballgame.
It was the ending of any otherwise strong ballgame from a Troy pitching staff that had 12 strikeouts to three walks while allowing seven hits. Troy starter Tommy Egan, a transfer from UIC, pitched five innings of two-run ball, holding the Bears to three hits and one walk. The righty from Chicago cruised with four straight zeroes in his Troy debut after Mercer put up a pair of runs in the bottom of the first.
Blake Dean struck out two in an inning in relief, allowing one run in the sixth inning, while Cooper Ellingworth struck out three hitters across the seventh an eighth innings, stranding a pair of runners in both frames.
Offensively, the Trojans tallied five hits and eight walks and were led by Drew Nelson in the seven-spot. Playing right field for the first time in his career, the Troy native had an RBI groundout in the fourth inning the only run against Mercer starter Garrett Lambert in his 4.1 innings, and followed a Sean Darnell RBI double with a one-run single in the sixth.
Notables
- Tommy Egan's six strikeouts were one shy of his career high.
- All four pitchers Troy used - Tommy Egan, Blake Dean, Cooper Ellingworth and Zach Crotchfelt - are new to the team this season.
- Aaron Piasecki went 1-for-3 with two walks in his Troy debut. His two walks matched his career high.
- Blake Cavill's reached base streak ended at 65 games.Â
- Steven Meier's three walks tied his career high.
- Jimmy Janicki recorded the first three-walk game of his career.
- Sean Darnell extended his hit streak to nine games dating back to last season.
- Drew Nelson started in right field for the first time in his career. He went 1-for-3 with an HBP and two RBIs.
- Nelson's two RBIs matched his career high. He also drove in two runs on Opening Day last season against Bellarmine.
"The box score can be cruel sometimes. You look at strike percentage. You look at some of the situations. They obviously had the impactful hit there after not hitting a lot of ball hard but had the one in the ninth that obviously ended it. Kudos to that kid. Zach Crotchfelt will be out there a lot because he's a winner. We love what he does and we certainly liked what we saw from the pitchers."
Next Up
The Trojans wrap up the series at Mercer with a double-header beginning at 1 p.m. CT.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ewaldsen, Collin (1-0)
L: Crotchfelt, Zach (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Darnell, Sean 1
RBI: Nelson, Drew 2 ; Darnell, Sean 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Meier, Steven 2 ; Darnell, Sean 1
SB: Meier, Steven 1 ; Piasecki, Aaron 1 ; Janicki, Jimmy 1
CS: Janicki, Jimmy 1
HBP: Nelson, Drew 1
Batting:
2B: Kamaka, Titan 1
HR: Katz, Chris 1
RBI: Kersey, Braydon 1 ; Kamaka, Titan 2 ; Katz, Chris 1
SF: Kamaka, Titan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Shepherd, Logan 1 ; Kersey, Braydon 1 ; Katz, Chris 2
HBP: Graziano, Michael 1 ; Huffman, Kaleb 1 ; LaPointe, Dylan 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
2
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
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LHP
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RHP
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RHP
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RHP
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