Ray Dominant as Trojans Take Opener at ASU 1-0

Friday, April 1

State University, AR

6:00 pm

Troy University

Arkansas State University

Photo by: Kevin Glackmeyer

Ray Dominant as Trojans Take Opener at ASU 1-0

4/1/2011 9:22:17 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Ricky Hazel

FINAL BOX SCORE: PDF | HTML POST-GAME AUDIO

JONESBORO, Ark. – The Troy Trojans gave junior right-handed pitcher Tyler Ray one run on Friday night at Tomlinson Stadium and asked him to make it stand up.

For 8 2/3 innings, Ray obliged, but he needed a little help from sophomore Nathan Hill, who recorded the final out in a 1-0 Troy victory over Arkansas State in the opening game of a three-game weekend series.

Ray (6-0) needed just 91 pitches to get within one out of his second shutout of the year, but two-out ninth inning singles by Todd Baumgartner and Ryan Emery put the victory in peril before Hill came in and got Jordan Castaldo to fly out to left for his first save of the year.

“ Tyler deserved to have one more shot with a runner not in scoring position,” Trojans coach Bobby Pierce said of his decision to allow Ray to pitch to Emery. “I told him that as long as he held Baumgartner at first, then he would have that last hitter to try to finish the game.

“He went to 0-2 and then his 0-2 pitch was a little too good. You have to give Emery credit for getting the base hit. He was only at 89 or 90 pitches and was pitching great. I wanted him to have a chance to finish the game and get the shutout and the complete game. When they got the hit, we went to Hill to get Castaldo out.

Troy improved to 20-5 on the year overall and 6-1 in Sun Belt Conference play. The Trojans also improved to 10-0 all-time on the Red Wolves' home field. ASU fell to 12-16 overall and 2-5 in league play.

The teams will meet against at 4 p.m. on Saturday in the second game of the series.

Ray allowed just six hits in the game. Two went to Michael Faulkner and Baumgartner as the first two hitters of the game. From there he retired 20 straight ASU hitters before a Castaldo double in with two out in the seventh.

ASU senior right-hander Andy Ferguson (3-2) was almost equal to Ray. The two matched scoreless innings until the sixth when Tyler Hannah delivered a two-out double and then scored on a single by Drew Prichard.

“We knew going in that Ferguson could really, really pitch,” Pierce said. “He commands the ball very well and reminds me a lot of Tyler. Both guys were outstanding and Tyler was fortunate to come out on top.”

Hannah, who also walked and reached third base in the ninth inning, joined with Faulkner, who got to third in the first for ASU, as the only players in the game to advance that far around the bases.

Neither starter walked a batter in the game. Ferguson struck out five in his eight innings of work while Hull recorded four strikeouts. John Kock came in to pitch for ASU in the ninth and walked two to give Troy a chance to score an insurance run, but Brandon Farley came out of the pen to strikeout Boone Shear to end the threat.

“It was a last man standing type of game,” Pierce said. “We got several balls off the bat and had some quality at bats against a guy who was pitching just lights out. I thought our body of work offensively was twice what we did at Auburn on Tuesday, even though we didn't have anything to show for it.”

Hannah and Prichard had two hits each for the Trojans while Adam Bryant extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a single in the sixth. Baumgartner had two of the six ASU hits in the game.

Pierce said he expects Saturday's game to be much like the one on Friday night. Senior right-hander Drew Hull (3-0, 2.12) will take the mound for Troy against Arkansas State's junior right-hander Jacob Lee (2-2, 2.75).

“Tomorrow, with Hull and Lee going, we are going to see two more quality guys battling it out, and the difference again may be one base hit with a runner in scoring position,” Pierce said.