Baseball makes statement to begin conference play
- Caleb Thomas
- Mar 21, 2024
- 3 min read
Troy baseball opened Sun Belt Conference play with a series win at ULM last weekend as part of a 6-6 road trip. After a road stretch spanning most of March, the 15-7 Trojans return to Riddle-Pace Field.
Following a tight 8-7 loss to Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the Trojans traveled to Bloomington, Indiana, for a series against the Hoosiers. Although Indiana is no longer ranked, it started the season as a top-25 team.
Troy won the series opener 8-1 behind an excellent outing from Luke Lyon, who has become the team’s ace after starting the season in the bullpen. Lyon fanned seven batters over 7.1 innings, only allowing one run.
“Luke gave up the home run in his first at-bat, which can certainly test one’s mentality and reliance, but he’s not going to change what he does, and he stayed in attack mode,” said head coach Skylar Meade in the postgame press conference posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “He was outstanding, and I thought our defense was outstanding behind him.”
Lyon’s ERA sits at a minuscule 0.62 in 29 innings this season after he spun another gem in the series opener against ULM.
Backing up Lyon against the Hoosiers was an offense fueled by Will Butcher, who hit three home runs in the game. His long balls in the third, fifth and ninth innings pushed across six of Troy’s eight runs.
The two squads split a doubleheader the following day, giving Troy a Power Five series victory. Shane Lewis, who has had a slow start to the season, hit two homers in the Trojans’ 15-11 win.
Noah Manning, a closer, pitched the final 3.1 innings of the high-scoring game to close it out.
“This was a unique weekend; it was 28 degrees,” said Meade in the postgame interview on X. “It wasn’t simple to do, just a great job offensively by the guys.”
Troy continued its road trip with a midweek game against Auburn in Huntsville, Alabama. The Trojans dropped an 8-2 contest at Toyota Field, the home of the Rocket City Trash Pandas.
The No. 12 ranked Tigers beat Troy after Trojans pitcher Logan Ross left with an injury. Auburn quickly scored three runs after Ross left, putting the game out of reach.
Butcher and Lewis continued their momentum with a pair of solo home runs, but Troy only managed to get four hits on the night.
Troy traveled to Monroe, Louisiana, to open Sun Belt play against the Warhawks. Lyon propelled the Trojans to a 7-1 win in the opener, allowing only one run over seven innings.
Brooks Bryan went 4-5, driving in four runs. Bryan also had three RBIs in Saturday’s 8-4 doubleheader loss. He now has six games this season with three or more RBIs – he is second on the team with 30 total RBIs.
The conference foes split a doubleheader on Saturday, with ULM taking the first game 8-4. The Warhawks held on to a 5-1 lead despite Bryan’s three-run bomb in the seventh inning.
Troy took the series win in the second game of the doubleheader, winning a 6-4 contest. Kyle Mock’s three RBIs and excellent relief pitching pushed the Trojans to victory.
Ryan Pettys and Manning combined for five scoreless innings out of the bullpen, with the Ringer delivering a three-inning save.
“I think the bullpen was fantastic with what Ryan did for a couple of innings and then ‘The Ringer’ closing it out,” said Meade in the postgame interview on X.
Tuesday, the Trojans capped off the trip in Birmingham, Alabama against UAB with a 9-8 victory. Although Troy led 7-2 in the seventh, it needed late-game heroics from Manning and Tremayne Cobb Jr. to win.
With the game tied at eight in the top of the ninth, Cobb rocketed a ball over the wall in left-center field to give Troy the lead. Manning, who had already pitched an inning and a third, shut the door in the ninth to end the road trip right.
Troy returns home for the first time in almost a month for a series against South Alabama. After an impressive win over Mississippi State, the Jaguars got swept by Georgia State to open conference play.
The series at Riddle-Pace Field starts at 6 p.m. on Friday.
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