Baseball takes series over Arkansas State

Troy baseball secured their second conference series win of the season, defeating the Arkansas State Red Wolves. 

"It was huge for the team,” said sophomore shortstop Nolan Book. “All it is is confidence. 

“You've just got to enjoy the game, have fun, and trust yourself up there.” 

Troy opened the series with a win over the Red Wolves, 6-4, after two runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings.  

"I just thought we did a good job of being disciplined,” said head coach Skylar Meade. “Even at times when we didn't walk, we saw pitches that were going to give us an opportunity to have a good at-bat. 

“Our older guys were really good. We played clean defense, and that's how you win in a game one." 

The Red Wolves started the scoring in the third inning after a single knocked in one from second base. Troy responded in the bottom with an RBI double from Aaron Piasecki and an RBI single from Josh Pyne.  

The Trojan offense found its rhythm as a walk and a single set up a sac fly from Sean Darnell and an RBI single from Jabe Boroff in the fourth to extend the lead to 4-1.  

The Trojans finished with two more insurance runs in the fifth after Pyne smashed a ball over the left field wall on the first pitch. Blake Cavill ended Chase Richter’s, the starting pitcher, outing after a walk. Drew Nelson brought him home on a triple.  

The Trojans charged all six runs on Ritcher, and as a team, Troy recorded nine hits and four walks in game one.  

Saturday, the Trojans dropped game two to the Red Wolves despite outhitting them 9-8. Arkansas State didn’t need the hits, though, as only two of the eight resulted in runs.  

Red Wolves outfielder Evan Griffis hit a grand slam in the third inning after loading the bases on a single, a walk and a hit-by-pitch, and shortstop Patrick Engskov smashed a two-run home run in the seventh to put the Red Wolves up 6-2. 

The Trojans four runs came from a two-run home run by Steven Meier -- his fourth of the season -- back-to-back doubles from Josh Pyne and Blake Cavill and an RBI single from Jimmy Janicki to bring in Cavill.  

The Trojans took game three after coming back from a 4-0 deficit, scoring six runs. The Trojan pitching staff brought a strong outing. 

"I thought the pitching staff was tremendous with 16 strikeouts and two walks,” Meade said. “The strikeouts are fine, but the walks mean they had to earn what they got.  

“We turned two double plays there in the eighth and ninth with Dylan Alonso doing his job, not getting sped up, which was huge. To be quite frank, Blake's homer allowed us a little bit of physical freedom.” 

Troy starting pitcher Tommy Egan allowed four runs in the first five frames and marked his career best with 11 strikeouts. The trio of Zach Crotchfelt, Cooper Ellingworth  and  Dylan Alonso held the Red Wolves scoreless across the final 4.1 innings while Alonso earned his fifth save of the season. 

The Trojans tied the game in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run bomb from Cavill and three singles from Meier, Nelson and Darnell. As the Trojans on the mound kept the Red Wolves scoreless for the rest of the game, Meier singled and reached second on a wild pitch, setting up Book for an RBI single. Houston Markham brought Book home on an infield RBI single, sealing the 6-4 win. 

"My job in these scenarios was to get on base,” Meier said. “That's all I wanted to do. 

“I was able to flip a switch yesterday, see it better, and swing it better, and today my job was to get on base, and I did. It's all we needed, knowing that if I did too much, we'd have less success." 

Egan reached 55 strikeouts after game three, the third-most in the Sun Belt, and Cavill extended his reached-base streak to a team-high 21 games.  

After the Trojans play host to Florida A&M on Wednesday at 11 a.m., they will head on the road for a weekend series against Texas State in San Marcos, Texas.