Troy baseball steals history

Trojans celebrate their victory over Litte Rock to win the Super Regionals at Riddle Pace Field

Aliza Chambers photo

Troy Baseball swung its way into the history books this year after a phenomenal postseason run. The Trojans finished the season in Omaha and set program records at each stop on the way to the College World Series.

However, this historic run did not start smoothly for the Trojans. After finishing the season barely over 500, 29-28, the Trojans entered the Sun Belt Tournament looking to gain some momentum for the postseason and wanting to confirm their spot on the Road to Omaha.

The Boys of Troy steamrolled South Alabama in game one of the SBC tournament, winning 11-3, before falling to the loser's bracket after dropping a 7-6 heartbreaker to Southern Miss.

Troy bounced back and would once again defeat the Jaguars, but by a narrow margin of 11-10. The Trojans would need to defeat the team they lost to earlier in the tournament, the Golden Eagles, twice to advance to the championship game.

Troy would win 9-6 but then would drop the second game 6-2. Southern Miss would knock the Trojans out of the Sun Belt Tournament for the second year in a row and would go on to win the conference championship.

The Trojans now lacked a confirmed bid to regionals and could be one of the first teams out again; however, Troy was confident in its strength of schedule and RPI.

“We didn’t dodge games,” said head coach Skylar Meade after the loss to Southern Miss. “We better be in.

“We’re here every year. Troy. How is Troy in that conversation every year? It’s because we are awesome.”

The NCAA baseball committee would recognize the Trojans' hard work in the regular season and put them as the three seed in the Gainesville Regional. Troy’s first matchup would be the Miami Hurricanes.

Unfortunately, the Hurricanes defeated the Trojans 10-5, putting Troy in the loser’s bracket in another tournament. Before this year, Troy was 0-3 in this bracket of regionals, and even if the Trojans won, they needed three more consecutive wins, or they would go home.

The Boys of Troy answered the call, and their offense exploded as they defeated Rider 15-7, Miami 9-6 and one seed in the regional, Florida, twice, 16-11 and 10-2. While the bats were rolling for all Trojans, one name rose to the top for Troy and became a national sensation.

Jabe Boroff, or as he is known on social media, “Jabe Ruth,” went off in the Gainesville Regional, hitting 10 for 20 with four home runs, 12 RBIs and two doubles. Boroff struggled earlier in the season, but on March 6, he sent a text to Coach Meade declaring he would play better.

“He sent me a text message and owned his struggle,” Meade said after the Gainesville Regional. “It was the best text I ever got, and I read it to our coaches when he started to play well. It tells you the kind of character he has.”

Boroff’s great play carried over to Super Regionals as Troy made history multiple times that first weekend in June. Boroff blasted two home runs in Friday's 12-2 win over Little Rock.

Then, on Saturday, Troy punched its ticket to the College World Series, winning 7-2 over Little Rock. Coaches and players ran to the outfield fence to celebrate with the fans in Doubles Alley. The Trojans would be going to Omaha.

This was Troy’s first time in program history to make it to Super Regionals, and they were able to play host for it. Trojan fans showed their support, packing out Riddle-Pace and setting back-to-back attendance records with over 6,000 on Friday and 7,000 on Saturday.

The first game of the CWS featured the Trojans against West Virginia. Going into the bottom of the eighth, the score was 5-5, but a single to right field would send the two winning runs home for the Mountaineers.

The Trojans were unable to score in the top of the ninth and entered the elimination bracket once again. However, the Trojans' bats reawakened when they heard the word elimination.

Janicki, Blake Cavill and Sean Darnell each hit a home run in the Trojans' 12-8 win over Ole Miss. The Boys of Troy secured their first win in program history at Omaha, and next would be a revenge match as they looked to take down the Mountaineers.

However, the Trojans’ run ended here with a 12-0 loss to West Virginia. Some sports analysts called it a “Cinderella run;” however, the Boys of Troy firmly rejected this label.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say that we’re a Cinderella story,” said Troy pitcher Zach Crotchfelt before the CWS. “I just don’t agree with that.

“You look on paper, man, like, we got a lot of talent, we got a lot of depth.”

The Trojans faced elimination and doubt all season, but every time they overcame these challenges. Whether it was scraping out a win before the SBC tournament to finish above .500, taking Southern Miss to two games before they were eliminated, dropping game one of regionals before winning four straight or even sweeping Little Rock in supers or taking down the Rebels to win for the first time in the College World Series, they did whatever it took to win when their backs were on the ropes.

The only question left for the Trojans: how do they take that next step next season?