Troy Blanks Coastal Carolina

Friday, April 28

Conway, S.C.

5 PM

Troy University

24-17, 10-9

Coastal Carolina

25-16-1, 11-7-1

Troy

Coastal Carolina

Photo by: Joey Meredith

4/28/2017 8:12:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Wes Johnson

CONWAY, South Carolina – Troy (24-17, 10-9 SBC) knocked off Coastal Carolina (25-16-1, 11-7-1), 4-0, at Springs Brooks Stadium on Friday.

Andrew Crane (4-1) was nearly unhittable against the defending national champions extending his scoreless innings pitched streak to 24.2 with six solid frames. The junior surrendered four hits, struck out seven and walked just one on the night. The right-hander hasn't allowed a run since March 31 – three starts and one relief appearance.

All of the game's offense came in the third inning. Drew Frederic and Steven Whitaker each singled ahead off Matt Sanders, whose grounder up the middle was speared by Coastal second baseman Wood Myers. Myers' throw to first was late and wide allowing both base runners to score. One batter later, Trevor Davis deposited the first pitch he saw into the Trojan bullpen beyond the right field wall to extend Troy's lead to 4-0.

Cory Gill earned his fifth save and continued his dominance on the mound striking out six of the nine batters he faced; he has now struck out 19 of the 33 hitters that have stood against him over his last nine innings of work. Alex Cunningham (5-2) took the loss for the Chanticleers surrendering all four runs and six hits in the contest; he struck out six and walked one.

The teams continue the series with game two on Saturday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. Daren Osby (4-3, 3.74) will battle Andrew Beckwith (5-1, 4.70).

QUOTABLE
"It was a great Friday win," Troy head coach Mark Smartt said. "It starts on the mound and Crane did what he's been doing lately and that is pitch extremely well. That was a very good team and I thought we handled and executed our game plan very well."

NOTEWORTHY
• Troy improves to 3-1 against Coastal Carolina all-time.

• The Trojans have posted four shutout victories this season; all four have come by the same 4-0 scoreline.

• With six shutout innings on Friday, Andrew Crane lowered his season ERA to 1.26.

• Trevor Davis hit his fifth home run of the season, a two-run blast in the third inning. All but one of Davis' home runs have come with runners on base.