Troy Downs In-State Rival UAB

Wednesday, February 28

Troy, Ala.

6:00 PM

Troy University

5-4

UAB

4-3

UAB

Troy

2/28/2018 9:53:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Jace Sanders

TROY, Alabama – A late-inning spurt and solid performances on the mound led Troy past in-state rival UAB, 3-2, in midweek action Wednesday night at Riddle-Pace Field.

The Trojans (5-4) snapped a brief four-game skid by scoring the tying and game-winning runs with two outs in the seventh inning – the victory was the 16^th one-run win for Troy in the Mark Smartt era.

Trailing by one in the bottom of the seventh, Matt Sanders legged out a triple and was driven in by Joey Denison on an RBI single to tie the game. Sanders is in the midst of a career-long 17-game hitting streak and the RBI was Denison's team-leading ninth of the season.

The eventual game-winning run came across the plate when Cole Prestegard brought Denison home on an RBI single of his own – Prestegard led the Trojan bats with a 2-for-3 night at the plate.

CJ Carter (2-0) and Lance Johnson were lights out in relief, combining for four innings of hitless, scoreless work. Carter earned the win after striking out three batters in 2.1 perfect innings to close the game on the mound. In his third start of the young season, Rush Hixon went five solid innings allowing only two runs – one earned – and fanning three.

Troy got on the board in the third on a no-doubter from Brandon Lockridge over Doubles Alley for his first homer of the 2018 campaign. Lockridge tied for the team-lead with six home runs last season.

UAB (4-3) scored in the second and third innings but were held to only one hit from that point on. Troy Cordrey (1-1) was saddled with the loss after giving up two earned runs on three hits in that pivotal seventh inning.

Quotable – Troy head coach Mark Smartt
Rush (Hixon) was effective in his start and I'm proud of the way he competed. Man, CJ (Carter) has a ton of tools and he put them all to work tonight. I was comfortable with him on the mound and he just looked even more comfortable. I'm proud of the way our guys strung together those runs in the seventh. That all happened because Matt Sanders stretched what was seemingly a double into a triple and that was the turning point of that inning.

Sound "Smartt" With Your Friends
Troy has won 10 consecutive games at Riddle-Pace Field for the fourth-longest active home winning streak in the country. Oregon State holds the top spot with 17 in a row, followed by Florida State at 13 and Bryant at 11.

Noteworthy
• Brandon Lockridge put Troy on the board with a homer in the bottom of the third, his first of the season. Lockridge led the Trojans with six round trippers in 2017.

• Matt Sanders tripled in the bottom of the seventh to extend his career-long and team-best hitting streak to 17 games. With the triple, Sanders moved into a tie for fourth in the school record books with seven career triples.

• Newcomer Cole Prestegard turned in yet another multi-hit game at the plate, going 2-for-3 and driving in the go-ahead run in the seventh. Prestegard is 5-for-7 in the past two games with a homer, two RBIs and raised his batting average from .304 to .400.

On Deck
Troy will remain at Riddle-Pace to host Tennessee Tech in a three-game set this weekend. First pitch for Friday's opener is set for 6 p.m.