Trojans Hold On To Take Series Opener Over Southern Miss

Friday, February 25

Riddle-Pace Field

6:00 pm

Troy University

University of Southern Mississippi

Photo by: Kevin Glackmeyer

Trojans Hold On To Take Series Opener Over Southern Miss

2/25/2011 9:00:49 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Ricky Hazel

FINAL BOX SCORE: PDF | HTML

The Troy Trojans jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the series opener against Southern Miss at Riddle-Pace Field Friday night, and then held on for dear life to take a 4-3 victory over the Golden Eagles.

The Trojans ran their season-opening win streak to five games in front of a crowd of 1,933, while snapping USM's streak at five, dropping the Golden Eagles to 5-1 on the year in a game that lasted just two hours and 17 minutes.

The teams will be back in action on Saturday afternoon with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.

Troy jumped on top by scoring single runs in each of the first two innings against preseason All-American, and 2010 Conference USA Pitcher of the Year, Todd McInnis (1-1). The senior lasted just three innings, throwing 78 pitches in the loss.

Trojans junior right-hander Tyler Ray (2-0) was up to the challenge of facing McInnis. He held USM scoreless through four innings before surrendering solo homers in the fifth and sixth.

“It was a great ball game,” Trojans coach Bobby Pierce said. “It was a great crowd, a great atmosphere and a great night for baseball. It was an intense game. We were able to score some runs early, but they battled back. I am real proud of the effort our guys gave.

Troy took advantage of some early miscues by Southern Miss to get on the board first. McInnis walked Adam Bryant to open the game, the got a strikeout. T.J. Rivera followed with a single before another strikeout. Blake Martz drew a walk to load the bases a then all three runners moved up on a passed ball.

The Trojans plated another run in the second when Logan Pierce, who had walked, scored from first on a triple by Bryant.

Troy got two more in the third inning, one on a throwing error to score Rivera from second after a leadoff double, and the other on a single by Tyson Workman.

“I couldn't have been more pleased with what we did against the All-American,” Pierce said. “Then, I couldn't have been more disappointed with what we did against a freshman in his first game.”

The freshman was Jackson Posey, who came on in the third inning for USM and held Troy scoreless the rest of the way. The Trojans managed just three hits against him in five innings and had their only real scoring threat erased on a double-play in the fourth.

USM got on the board in the fifth when Mark Ellis hit what appeared to be a slicing foul down the right-field line. The ball hugged the line and hit the fair pole at the top of the 30-foot wall for a solo homer.

The Eagles got another run back in the fifth when All-America shortstop B.A. Vollmuth hit a no-doubt homer to left. It was his second of the year. USM added another run in the seventh when Isaac Rodroguez leadoff with a double, moved up on a single by Marc Bougeois and scored on a sacrifice fly by Dillon Day.

USM threatened again in the eighth, getting a pair of singles to chase Ray, who allowed the three runs on nine hits over 7.1 innings of work. Junior Garrett McHenry came in for the Trojans and got a pair of ground balls to end the threat.

McHenry then closed out the victory with a quick ninth inning that included back-to-back strikeouts to end the game. The save was the second of the young season for McHenry.

“I thought Tyler Ray pitched well again tonight,” Pierce said. “He got a bad break on the ball that hit the fair pole and left one up to Vallmuth, but he never got rattled. Garrett came on and did a great job again. He is quickly making a name for himself.”

Rivera led the Trojans with two hits. Tyler Koelling, Vollmuth and Bourgeois had two hits each for Southern Miss.