Arkansas State Defeats Troy 5-4 to Claim Series

Sunday, April 1

Troy, Ala.

1:00 p.m.

Troy University

Arkansas State

Photo by: Lisa Ray

Arkansas State Defeats Troy 5-4 to Claim Series

4/1/2012 4:28:00 PM | Baseball

By: Adam Prendergast

TROY, Ala. – Arkansas State held back a late Troy rally with a run in the seventh inning to defeat the Trojans 5-4 Sunday afternoon at Riddle-Pace Field and claim the three-game Sun Belt Conference series 2-1.

The Trojans tied the game at 4-all with four runs in the sixth inning before Claude Johnson drove home the game-winner in the seventh. Collin Massanelli led off the frame with a single and Michael Faulkner drew a five-pitch walk as he was trying to sacrifice Massanelli to second. A sac bunt and a walk loaded the bases for Johnson who hit a slow grounder to short and beat the throw to first to avoid the double play.

Logan Piece put Troy on the board in the sixth with a double to left-center field after Jakob Nixon drew a lead-off walk and moved up a base on a wild pitch. Pierce was 2-for-3 in the game and extended his hit streak to 17 games in the process; the junior first baseman was 11-of-18 (.611) with two doubles, two home runs, a 1.056 slugging percentage and nine RBIs over Troy's five games this week.

Danny Collins followed with his fifth home run of the season after working a 3-1 count to pull Troy within one, 4-3. Following the second out of the inning, Jo-El Bennett took the first pitch he saw from Morgan Croft out of the park in left-center field to tie the game at 4-4.

Arkansas State (17-11, 7-2 Sun Belt) jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first three innings on a trio of unearned runs. Michael Faulkner reached with one out in the first inning the third-base umpire ruled that Bennett did not control a caught fly ball long enough in left field. Faulkner stole third and scored on a single by Zach George.

A lead-off walk and one-out single put a pair of runners on for the Red Wolves in the third. The pair moved up a base on a grounder to second and Nate Hill came out of the Troy (13-14, 3-6) bullpen to face left-handed hitting Logan Uxa. Uxa drew a six-pitch walk off Hill despite several close pitches that were called just off the plate. An error by the Troy defense on a Johnson grounder allowed two runners to score.

Croft (2-1) was credited with the win for Arkansas State after appearing in two-thirds of an inning out of the bullpen. Cory Kyle started for the Red Wolves and left after he allowed three runs on four hits in 5.1 innings; John Koch picked up his second save in as many games with a clean ninth.

Tyson Workman (2-1) took the loss for Troy after he allowed two runs on four hits in four innings of work; he struck out five and walked two. Ryan Brady started for Troy and allowed three unearned runs in 2.2 innings and Nate Hill tossed 2.1 scoreless innings.

Troy will look to regroup on Tuesday when it travels to Birmingham, Ala., for a non-conference game at UAB before traveling to Miami over the weekend for a three-game series with FIU.