Homers and Austin Lead Troy Past Florida Atlantic 6-4

Saturday, April 28

Troy, Ala.

6:00 p.m.

Troy University

Florida Atlantic

Tyler Hannah

Photo by: Thomas Graning

Homers and Austin Lead Troy Past Florida Atlantic 6-4

4/28/2012 9:19:00 PM | Baseball

By: Adam Prendergast

BOX SCORE

TROY, Ala. – Logan Pierce and Tyler Hannah hit key home runs and Thomas Austin was masterful out of the bullpen as Troy knocked off Sun Belt Conference leader Florida Atlantic 6-4 Saturday evening at Riddle-Pace Field. The teams will play the rubber game of the series Sunday at 1 p.m.

Pierce gave the Trojans a 5-4 lead in the fifth inning with a towering home run over the 27-foot wall in right field for his fifth home run of the season. Hannah took Bo Logan deep with one out in the seventh to give Troy a crucial insurance run.

Pierce finished the game 3-for-4 with a double and a single to go with his homer; the Troy first baseman is locked into a tight battle with FIU's Mike Martinez for the Sun Belt batting title. Martinez entered Saturday with a three-point lead on Pierce, but Pierce's average shot up to .390 following Saturday's game and three points ahead of Martinez.

Austin (2-2) took over on the mound for the Trojans in the fourth inning and limited the Owls to just five hits over the final 5.1 innings of play. The junior right-hander struck out four, walked one and did not allow a run to pick up the victory. Austin has allowed just four earned runs over his last 35.2 innings of work over 14 outings (1.01 ERA).

Tyler Vaughn had an outstanding game for the Trojans (19-24, 7-13 Sun Belt) both at the plate and in the field. The sophomore second baseman was 3-for-4 with a double offensively, turned a pair of double plays and robbed Robert Buckley of a single in the fourth inning that would have given the Owls the lead. Vaughn ranged to the right-field grass, scooped the ball on the slide and threw out Buckley at first for the final out of the frame.

Chase Mathis put the Trojans in front in the second with a two-run double down the line in right field after Danny Collins and Vaughn reached on back-to-back one-out singles. Mathis, who was 2-for-4 on the night, also hit a two-run home run for the Trojans in the series opener on Friday.

The Owls (26-16, 14-4) cut their deficit in half in the third after Mitch Morales drew a lead-off walk and eventually scored on a grounder.

Troy kept the pressure on in its next at-bat as Hannah led off the inning by drawing a walk and Pierce followed with a ground-rule double to left. Boone Shear lined a single back up the middle to score Hannah and Pierce came around to score on a double play off the bat of Collins.

As you would expect from the conference leaders, Florida Atlantic battled back to tie the game with three runs in the fourth. Kyle Newton led off the inning with a home run to right-center field and Morales pulled the Owls within one, 4-3, with a sac fly following a Mike Spano single and Geoff Jimenez double. Mike Albaladejo tied the game as he snuck a double just inside the line past third base.

Michael Sylvestri (0-2) took the loss for the Owls after he allowed the home run to Pierce. He scattered three hits over four innings of work and struck out five. Kevin Alexander started for Florida Atlantic and was ineffective over his two innings on the mound. Alexander allowed four runs on five hits after entering with a 1. 89 ERA.

Joe Hernandez started on the bump for the Trojans after gave way to Austin after he allowed four runs on five hits in 3.2 innings.