Trojan Beat

UPDATED: Troy close to landing veteran WR transfer

Wilson Van Hooser

A source close to the situation confirmed that Tulane wide receiver Wilson Van Hooser is likely to join Troy’s football team as early as this week.

The Baton Rouge Advocate first reported that Van Hooser had asked for release from his scholarship.

Van Hooser, a Montgomery native, is looking to transfer to be closer to his mother, who has undergone several medical procedures.The 6-foot, 192-pound wide receiver should be eligible to play right away due to the fact that he has already received his degree from Tulane.

The Advocate reported that Tulane coaches have reached out to coaches at both Troy and Auburn.

“I needed to make a big-boy decision, because I’m graduating, my older brother is getting married and Fudge (brother and Tulane teammate Walker Van Hooser) is moving into a position he’s really excited about,” Van Hooser told the Advocate. “I need to step up for my family, and I need to be the one to be back in Montgomery (Ala.) to help out as much as I can.”

Van Hooser, a rising senior, has 55 catches for 805 yards and nine touchdowns. During his sophomore campaign in 2011, Van Hooser caught 36 passes for 487 yards and four scores. He averaged over 21 yards on just 11 receptions last year but hauled in five touchdowns.

Troy beats No. 18 South Alabama to claim Sun Belt title

With a 6-3 win over No. 18 South Alabama on Saturday Troy clinched a share of the Sun Belt Conference regular season title.

Troy will be the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament that starts on Wednesday in Lafayette, La., and will play Arkansas State at 12:30 p.m.

The Trojans came into the weekend need to take two of three to earn a share of the title and did so with wins on Friday and Saturday. South Alabama defeated Troy in the series opener on Thursday.

Head coach Bobby Pierce adjusted his strategy in the series moving usual Game 3 starter Ryan Sorce up to start Thursday’s game. Shane McCain started in his normal spot in Game 2 but usual Game 1 starter Tanner Hicks tossed 3.1 innings in relief.

On Saturday, closer Nate Hill started and went three innings before Thomas Austin took over and pitched two innings. Hicks again entered from the bullpen to close out the game over the final four innings.

Throughout the season Bobby Pierce has made moves that have worked for the Trojans in the clutch. On April 28, Troy was trailing Florida Atlantic 2-0 and was looking to avoid a series loss. Pierce called on Jo-El Bennett to pinch-hit in the fifth inning with two outs. Bennett launched a 2-run homer to tie the game. The Trojans would go on to take the contest, 5-3.

Last Saturday, Troy fell behind Arkansas State 3-2 heading into the ninth. With two outs, Clay Holcomb walked. Pierce sent Justin Hancock to the plate. Hancock, who had not had a plate appearance in nearly a month, drove a double off the left field wall to score Holcomb and tie the game. Troy won that game 4-3 in 10 innings.

The Trojans scored two runs in the first inning of Saturday’s game on a Logan Pierce home run and a 2-RBI single by Josh McDorman in the third gave Troy a 4-0 lead.

South Alabama answered with two runs in the bottom of the third but Troy would tack on two more runs and keep the Jaguars bats relatively quiet.

The Trojans finish the season 39-16 overall and 20-10 in Sun Belt play. Troy was 28-5 at home but just 10-11 (including neutral site games) away for Riddle-Pace Field.

HERE ARE THE LATEST NCAA TOURNAMENT PROJECTIONS:

College Baseball Daily – Troy in as No. 3 seed in Columbia Regional

1. South Carolina
2. Virginia Tech
3. Troy
4. Maine

ChasingOmaha.com - Troy in as No. 3 seed in Columbia Regional

1. South Carolina
2. Coastal Carolina
3. Troy
4. Delaware State

Perfect Game – Troy in as No. 3 seed in Nashville Regional

1. Vanderbilt
2. Rider
3. Troy
4. Ohio State

College Baseball Nation – Troy in as #2 seed in Starkville Regional

1. Mississippi State
2. Troy
3. Sam Houston St.
4. Southern Miss

SoutheasternBaseball.com – Troy in as #2 seed in Tallahassee Regional

1. Florida State
2. Troy
3. Florida
4. Maine

Troy basketball lands high-profile recruit

The Troy mens’ basketball team landed a marquee forward today with the addition of forward Kevin Thomas.

Thomas (6-9, 205) was a highly-touted recruit from Ontario, Canada and signed with Texas out of high school but failed to qualify. After spending the past two seasons at Palm Beach State, Thomas will wear cardinal and black.

Last season Thomas averaged 9.1 and 9 rebounds per game. He ranked 20th in the National Junior College Athletic Association with 113 offensive rebounds and was 28th in total rebounds with 279.

The 3-star recruit played high school basketball at Christian Faith Center Academy (N.C.) along with Grassroots Canada AAU team. He committed to Texas over offers from Georgetown, North Carolina State, Marquette, Arkansas among others.

On May 16, Canadian scout Tariq Sbiet (@Tariq_NPH) sent out a tweet saying Thomas had narrowed his list to Troy, Western Kentucky, St. Bonaventure and North Texas. HERE is a nice write up with quotes by Adam Haley at TopperTalk.com

Thomas joins Miguel Dicent Guante and Jaroslav Moravek as newcomers to the Troy program under new coach Phil Cunningham.

Here are a few links to stories on Thomas:

ESPN – Kevin Thomas latest Canadian to Texas

GopherHole.com – JUCO forward Kevin Thomas and Palm Beach State excelling

SBNation – Kevin Thomas fails to qualify

Troy baseball update

Well, the Troy baseball team ended its 2013 home schedule on a bit of a sour note. Arkansas State walked away with a 15-14 win to ends Troy’s 18-game home winning streak.

Looking back, I think Bobby Pierce and company will be happy that they came away with the series win considering ASU had as much of a chance to sweep Troy as visa versa. Troy won Friday’s game 1-0 on a walk-off single in the 10th and took Saturday’s game on a balk-off also in the 10th. One hit or swing and miss one way or the other could have resulted in a ASU sweep of Troy.

Regardless, the Trojans won the series and head to South Alabama (after a midweek road game against UAB) with a chance to win the Sun Belt Conference regular season outright.

Here are the updated Sun Belt standings:

South Alabama – 19-8 (39-14)
Troy - 18-9 (37-14)
ULL – 16-11 (35-17)
FAU – 16-11 (31-20)
FIU – 14-14 (25-27)
WKU – 13-14 (24-27)
MTSU – 11-16 (28-25)
UALR – 11-16 (26-25)
Arkansas State – 11-16 (25-27)
ULM – 7-20 (18-33)

Here are the scenarios:

- If Troy sweep South Alabama this weekend, Troy wins the Sun Belt outright.

- If Troy wins the series, USA and Troy share SBC title.

- If Troy losses series, USA wins SBC title outright.

- If Troy is swept, WWIII ensues.

Obviously there are tie-breaking scenarios that are still in play for tournament seeding purposes.

Per Troy SID Adam Prendergast: “In the event of a tie; seeding would be determined by record against 3rd place team. If ULL then USA has the advantage, if FAU then Troy.”

OK? Got it?

In any case Troy is likey to earn an at-large bid (let’s just hope it’s not in Eugene, Oregon like some project) unless they are swept and have a bad tournament.

The Trojans turned in a nice season especially at home. Troy finished 28-5 at Riddle-Pace Field. One of the best under Pierce, whose teams have played very well at home since he came to Troy in 2003. In 2011, Troy was 30-5 at home and in 2006 they were 22-3. Both seasons they got an invite to an NCAA Regional.

Pierce has practically begged Trojan Nation to attend the South Alabama series and it will be interesting to see what kind of crowd shows up. I will be there for the Friday and Saturday games. If you can’t make it, follow me here or on Twitter @messenger_wes

Troy rally falls short against Arkansas State; home win streak ends

Troy fell short in a monumental comeback effort on Sunday ultimately losing to Arkansas State 15-14 at Riddle-Pace Field.

Arkansas State led 14-1 when the Trojans came to bat in the fourth. Home runs from Justin Hancock, Logan Pierce and Danny Collins helped Troy claw back into the game 14-8.

Pierce would hit a three-run homer in the fifth to get Troy to within three. Arkansas State’s Ryan Roberts led off the sixth with a solo home run while Troy’s Trae Santos answered in the bottom half with a solo blast of his own. Troy trailed 15-12.

Santos would single with one out in the eighth before Josh McDorman appeared to earn his way on base after being hit by a pitch. Home plate umpire Kenneth Langford ruled that McDorman did not attempt to avoid the pitch and mandated he remain at the plate. On the next pitch McDorman launched a two-run home run to left field closing the gap to 15-14.

The Trojans would be retired in order in the ninth however and the team’s 18-game home winning streak was snapped.

Troy finishes the season with a 28-5 record at Riddle-Pace Field. The Trojans finished the 2011 season 30-5 at home.

Troy fell behind early after starter Ryan Sorce, who was hit with his first loss of the season, allowed five runs on six hits and was able to retire just four batters. Williams Teal relieved Sorce in the second but gave up five runs although just one was earned.

The Trojans would use five pitchers in the losing effort while Arkansas State utilized just three.

Troy, who won the first two games of the series in extra innings, would hit six home runs in the game falling two shy of the team record of eight set in 1980 and accomplished again in 1985.

McDorman finished the game 3-for-4 while Pierce, Santos and Hancock all earned a pair of hits each.

The Trojans (37-14, 18-9 Sun Belt) will travel to Birmingham to face UAB on Tuesday then the attention turns the season’s final series that starts on Thursday. Troy takes on South Alabama in what will determine the Sun Belt Conference’s regular season champion. Entering Sunday, the Jaguars led Troy by just a half a game but won the front end of a doubleheader against Louisiana-Lafayette.

If South wins the second game, Troy will need to sweep the Jaguars to earn the regular season title.

Troy takes on Alabama tonight

Troy will put its No. 25 ranking on the line against in-state rival Alabama in a midweek road game Wednesday. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.

The Trojans are coming off a sweep of Florida International and while the team’s attention is focused squarely on the Sun Belt Conference regular season title, it would be icing on the cake to knock off Alabama, Auburn, Samford, UAB, Alabama State and Alabama A&M in the same season.

Sewell-Thomas Stadium has not been kind to the Trojans in the past as Troy has won there just twice in the Bobby Pierce era (Troy is 4-12 in T-Town all-time including a pair of losses to the Crimson Tide in the 2006 Tuscaloosa Regional).

Jeremy McGowan will get his first start of the season for the Trojans. In five appearances this season, McGowan has allowed two earned runs in five innings. He struck out five and walked four. McGowan’s last outing came on April 16 when he pitched one inning of relief against Alabama A&M.

Troy has won nine of its last 10 games and 22 of its last 27. Alabama (27-21) enters the game after being swept by Mississippi State over the weekend.

Baseball ranked, softball hosts SBC tourney

Troy’s baseball earned a national ranking this week as the Collegiate Baseball Poll spotted them at No. 25.

The Trojans (35-12) are a game behind South Alabama in the Sun Belt Conference standings. Troy travels to face Alabama tomorrow night. The team will then host Arkansas State this weekend.

Here are a few college baseball regional projections that came out last week that have Troy in the field of 64.

Perfect Game USA: Troy in as #2 seed in the Columbia Regional

College Baseball Daily: Troy in as #2 seed in Fayetteville Regional

Chasing Omaha: Troy in as #3 seed in Starkville Regional

Southeastern Baseball: Troy in as #2 seed in Tallahassee Regional

College Baseball Nation: Troy in as #2 seed in Eugene Regional

****************************************************************

The Troy softball team will play host to the 2013 Sun Belt Conference Championships which begin on Wednesday.

The Trojans are set to face No. 18 South Alabama in the first round at 5:30 pm.

Troy (20-30) is looking to snap a seven-game losing skid.

Family Night, which is free, will be held tonight. Fireworks, home run derby, etc…

Pair of athletes arrested during incident at local bar

Photo by Wes Johnson | Police cars line up outside the 315 Exchange in Troy just after 2:30 a.m. Saturday after reports of shots fired.

Troy police responded to reported shots fired at 315 Exchange on Three Notch Street early Saturday morning. Troy football player Jadarius Garner and women’s basketball player Brooke Bowie were arrested for disorderly conduct. Both students have been suspended by the Troy University pending the conclusion of the investigation.

Multiple Troy police units arrived about 2:20 a.m. to find a large crowd in the parking lot of the establishment.

While the incident is still under investigation, Troy University Director of Athletics John Hartwell released the following statement on Sunday:

“We are aware of an incident that happened off-campus early Saturday morning and as a result we have suspended football student-athlete Jadarius Garner and women’s basketball student-athlete Brooke Bowie indefinitely. The University will continue to gather information about what happened and we will act accordingly as a result of the outcome of the investigation.”

Witnesses at the scene reported hearing between 3-5 gunshots. Once police arrived, bystanders reported one male was tasered in an attempt to restore order. It is unclear if the man tased was Garner. Police have not commented on whether anyone was actually tasered at the scene.

Garner, a Clarksdale, Miss. native,  is entering his sophomore season as a defensive lineman with the football program. He did not record any stats last season.

Bowie is a rising senior guard for the women’s basketball program. She averaged 4.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 14.4 minutes per game last season.

On April 11, a non-scholarship athlete was suspended after a pair of on-campus fights.

Troy baseball takes series from FAU

ICYMI, HERE is the feature I wrote on Logan Pierce that appeared in the weekend edition of The Messenger. HERE is the column I wrote on the offense living up to its preseason hype. It ran on Thursday.

Some moves baseball coaches make can paint them as a genius, others not so much. Troy head coach Bobby Pierce came across as a baseball virtuoso on Sunday when in the fifth inning trailing 2-0 he lifted the slumping Ali Knowles in favor of Jo-El Bennett.

With Garrett Pitts on first base, Bennett, in what was at the moment just his second plate appearance in 11 days, wasted little time before he deposited a 2-1 pitch over the left field fence to tie the game. Bennett would finish the game 1-for-3.

The Trojans (32-12, 13-8) would go on to win the game, 5-3, and the series. It was Troy’s fourth Sun Belt Conference series victory in seven tries this season.

In a league that is still very much up for grabs Troy earned itself a big boost in the conference standing and in the national RPI rankings. The series win boosted the Trojans to 32nd in the RPI. The only two Sun Belt schools above Troy in the rankings are South Alabama and Louisiana-Lafayette, both who defeated Troy in conference series earlier this season. The Trojans will get another shot at South Alabama in the final Sun Belt series of the season May 16-18 in Mobile.

The Sunday victory came on the heels of a rare shutout of Troy. Florida Atlantic topped the Trojans, 1-0 on Saturday and held the league’s most potent offense to just four hits, three of which came off the bat of Tyler Vaughn. The last time the Trojans were shutout was April 17, 2011 when Middle Tennessee defeated Troy 4-0. Incidentally, MTSU blanked Troy the day before as well, 1-0, in the second game of a doubleheader.

Troy will not play a midweek game this week. They will have plenty of time to rest up for another big conference series as Florida International visits Riddle-Pace Field for a three-game series May 3-5.