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Writer's pictureCaleb Thomas

Baseball wins crucial conference series

Troy baseball won a pivotal conference series against Georgia State at home last weekend. Head coach Skylar Meade earned his 100th win as Troy’s coach in Sunday’s rubber match.

The Trojans entered the weekend tied with Georgia State and two other teams for second place in the Sun Belt Conference and remain in second along with Coastal Carolina and Southern Miss after the series.

“We played very high level, competitive baseball this weekend,” Meade said.

The series started off tough on Friday, with the Panthers winning a 10-8 contest. On the night where Luke Lyon was off, the teams were caught in a shootout.

Troy battled back from a 6-3 deficit in the fifth inning to tie it up on a Brooks Bryan two-RBI double and Peyton Watts hit a single to push another run across. However, the Panthers chased Lyon out in the sixth, scoring three runs to take a 9-6 lead they would not relinquish.

Tensions were high in the series opener. Luke Boynton exchanged words with Lyon after the Troy pitcher tagged him out at home, and Panther's outfielder JoJo Jackson yelled an expletive at the Trojans dugout as he rounded third to score in the ninth. Additionally, Meade was ejected late in the game arguing with home plate umpire Blake Carr.

Saturday’s game, initially scheduled to be a doubleheader, was hijacked by the weather. The game started at 1 p.m., with Tremayne Cobb Jr. giving Troy the lead on a home run to right field.

A delay pushed the game back to 6 p.m., where the Panthers came out of the break swinging with a three-run homer to take the lead. The Trojans scored eight unanswered runs in the middle innings to take a 9-3 lead to the top of the ninth, which was played on Sunday after another lightning delay.

“I thought the guys did a great job of flipping the switch [after delays,]” Meade said. “It’s a very unorthodox thing to go to sleep in a game up 9-3 and not victorious yet, but we handled it well.”

Beau Fletcher gave up two runs on Sunday morning but collected the final three outs in a 9-5 win. The unconventional ending segued into a crucial rubber match at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

The early innings of Sunday’s game were back-and-forth, with both starters struggling. Kyle Mock hit a two-run moonshot to right-center field in the second inning, giving Troy a 2-1 lead that quickly dissolved.

JoJo Jackson hit his first of two home runs on the day to help Georgia State take a 3-2 lead, but the Trojans answered in a big way.

In the fifth inning, Mock started a two-out rally with a double into the gap. Ben Arnett and Watts had consecutive RBI singles before Kole Myers added a two-RBI double to cap off the four-run inning.

Mock finished the game 4-for-4, only needing a triple to get the cycle.

The 6-3 Trojan lead was extended in the seventh when Brooks Bryan stepped up to the plate in a big spot. The nation’s RBI leader came to the dish with the bases loaded and crushed a pitch to center field for a grand slam, making it a 10-4 game.

The Panthers made a comeback bid that was ultimately futile as Connor Burt earned the save in the 10-7 win.

The Sun Belt hierarchy will be determined this weekend as the Trojans travel to Conway, South Carolina, for a series against No. 13 Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers are coming into the series hot after beating a ranked UNC team and winning a series against top Sun Belt team Louisiana. The series kicks off at 5 p.m. on Friday night.

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