Baseball earns a second Power Four win against Rutgers

Troy baseball defeated its second power conference opponent of the season at the Keith LeClair Classic, taking down Rutgers 2-1, after falling in the opening two games of the weekend.  

Success came on Sunday for the Trojans in a pitcher’s duel, where pitcher Dylan Alonso secured the win. 

"This is a perfect way to win this game,” said head coach Skylar Meade. “It's better than a 9-1 game that doesn't test you. 

“It tests every part of you, and I think we need that. When you get used to and acclimated to that, you're going to be the best team that you can be." 

Troy’s pitching staff allowed only three hits, which is the fewest it’s allowed in a game so far this season. Right fielder Jimmy Janicki got the Trojans rolling with a 401-foot homer in the top of the first. That would be the only run scored until the eighth, when Rutgers’ Tristan Salinas scored on a wild pitch.  

The Trojans started the rally in the ninth with shortstop Nolan Book’s two-out walk, then designated hitter Gavin Shrader moved Book to third on a single. Another single from Nico Azpilcueta into right field brought in the winning run.  

Alonso came in to relieve Benjamin Stubbs and closed the game with a strikeout, a ground out and a line out to secure the Trojans second power conference victory. 

"It was all just going and attacking the hitters,” Alonso said. “They said if you get them in plus counts - for the hitter - they're going to try to lift the ball.  

“My goal was to get them to ground out early and just trust my offense and defense enough to where I can keep getting ground balls, and they can keep making plays." 

The Trojans got off to a rocky start on Friday, falling to West Carolina 4-3.  

"The way it happened just leaves so much irritation to you, because it shouldn't have happened in that way,” Meade said. “Not many strikeouts for them, plenty for us, but they had the one pivotal great swing that changed the game, and we just unfortunately didn't get that today."  

The Trojans kept the score tied through eight innings, 3-3, but a ninth-inning homer from Catamount Walker Fox and lefty Owen Austins 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth secured the win for Western Carolina. 

The Trojans faced East Carolina on Saturday, where they were outhit 11-6 by the Pirates. East Carolina’s pitching staff racked up 13 strikeouts with no walks, shutting down the Trojans. 

After the Trojans face their third consecutive SEC midweek foe at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee, the Trojans will return to Riddle-Pace Field to take on Maryland in a weekend series.