Troy Powers Past ULM 9-4 to Take Series Opener

Friday, May 11

Troy, Ala.

6:00 p.m.

Troy University

ULM

Clay Holcomb

Photo by: Lisa Ray

Troy Powers Past ULM 9-4 to Take Series Opener

5/11/2012 9:27:00 PM | Baseball

By: Adam Prendergast

BOX SCORE

TROY, Ala. – Troy belted out six extra-base hits, including home runs from Danny Collins and Chase Mathis to power past ULM 9-4 in the Sun Belt Conference series opener Friday night at Riddle-Pace Field.

Collins, who now has three home runs in Troy's past four games, put the Trojans (23-26, 11-14 Sun Belt) on the board with a three-run blast to straight-away center field and Mathis came off the bench as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning and took the first pitch he saw over the wall in right field to break a 4-all tie.

The victory moves Troy into a four-way tie with ULM, UALR and Western Kentucky for sixth place in the Sun Belt standings; the Trojans are just two games behind FIU for third place. Troy has now won seven of its past 10 games at Riddle-Pace Field.

Following Mathis' game-winning homer in the sixth, Boone Shear drove home Tyler Hannah in the seventh with a two-out double down the line in left field. In the eighth, Mathis and Jake Harrell led off the frame with back to back singles. Following a strikeout and a balk, Clay Holcomb ripped a two-strike triple into the gap in left-center field to extend the Troy lead out to 8-4.

Hannah, who participated in Troy's Spring Commencement earlier in the day, capped the scoring for the Trojans with a sac fly to score Holcomb. Hannah finished 2-for-3 with three runs scored after he doubled in his first two at-bats – both on the first pitch of the at-bat – and walked in the seventh.

The Troy bullpen duo of Nate Hill and Thomas Austin held ULM scoreless over the final three innings of the game. Hill picked up his seventh hold of the season after striking out three over 1.2 innings and Austin did not allow a hit over the final 1.1 innings for his second save of the season.

Following Hannah's double to lead off the Troy first inning, Shear drew a two-out walk after falling behind in the count 0-2. Collins did not waste any time and he took the first pitch from Shelby Aulds over the wall for his team-leading 11th homer of the season.

The Warhawks quickly answered as they loaded the bases with nobody out in the second inning on a pair of singles and a walk. Taylor Abdalla drew a bases loaded walk to plate ULM's first run of the game and Logan Fiasco grounded into a double play to score the second run of the frame; Troy turned three double plays in the game after ULM had grounded into just 11 all season coming in to the game. Les Aulds singled past a diving Logan Pierce at first to score Brandon Alexander and tie the game.

Pierce gave the Trojans the lead in the third with a single to right field after Hannah led off the inning with a double to center field and Tyler Vaughn sacrificed him to third; Vaughn's 13-game hit streak ended after he went 0-for-4.

Another double play provided ULM its fourth run of the game after Aulds drew a lead-off walk in the fifth, stole second and moved to third on a single by Caleb Clowers. Jeremy Sy grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to tie the game.

Tyler Ray (4-5) improved to 31-12 in his career at Troy after holding ULM to four runs on six hits over six innings. He walked three and struck out three.

Aulds (3-2) took the loss for the Warhawks after he allowed five runs on six hits in six innings of work. Four relief pitchers combined to allow four runs on four hits in two innings of work.

The teams are scheduled to play game two of the three-game series Saturday at 6 p.m., but the threat of inclement weather on Sunday might force a schedule change. For updated information on game times, check TroyTrojans.com or follow @adprende_TROY or @TroyAthletics on Twitter.