Trojan Beat

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.

Four Trojan football players sign as free agents

Seven rounds and 254 picks of the 2013 NFL Draft came and went and end the end Troy was shutout from having a player selected. It was the first time since 2006 that the program has failed to produce a draft pick but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t talent to be had.

Four former Troy football players signed contracts as undrafted free agents shortly after the draft concluded.

Offensive lineman Kyle Wilborn and wide receiver Chip Reeves signed with the Washington Redskins, linebacker Kanorris Davis was picked up by the New England Patriots and safety Bryden Trawick signed with Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens.

Reeves, Wilborn and Trawick were named First Team All-Sun Belt Conference this past season while Kannorris Davis earned second team honors.

Reeves led the league and ranked 28th nationally with 87.5 receiving yards per game. He became the first player in Troy history to have five 100-yard receiving games in 2012 – a record he actually broke when he did it for the fourth time – and was the only Sun Belt Conference player to do so.

Trawick earned Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week honors after recording 15 tackles, including a pair for a loss, at North Texas. He went on to record 83 tackles and three interceptions for the season.

Wilborn led a Troy offensive line that  finished 25^th in the NCAA allowing just 1.25 sacks per game despite the offense attempting 42.4 passes per contest. Wilborn started 47 games over his career.

Davis finished fourth in the conference with 62 solo tackles and ranked 10th in the Sun Belt averaging 7.5 tackles per game.

Over the years, some notable players have made it into the spotlight despite not being drafted.

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, Houston Texans running back Arian Foster and New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker all went undrafted and have gone on to have success in the NFL.

Troy players to sign as undrafted free agents over the last few year include (forgive me if I miss someone):

2012
WR – Standley Arukwe – Arizona Cardinals
OL – James Brown – Chicago Bears

2011
LB – Mario Addison – Chicago Bears
RB – DuJuan Harris – Jacksonville Jaguars

2010
LB – Brandon Lang – San Diego Chargers
LB – Bear Woods – Atlanta Falcons
RB – Maurice Greer – Washington Redskins
LB – Kevin Dixon – Seattle Seahawks

And who can forget one of Troy’s favorite sons, Lawrence Tynes. The two-time Super Bowl champion kicker with the New York Giants was signed as an undrafted free agent way back in 2001 by the Kansas City Chiefs.

Troy WBB completes signing class

Troy women’s basketball head coach Chanda Rigby announded the seventh signing to the 2013 class.

Aissata Maiga, a guard from Bamako, Mali, signed with Troy on Friday. Maiga is a 5-foot 6-inch product of Gulf Coast State College and will have two years of eligibility.

Troy’s 2013 recruiting class:

Kristen Emerson –6’1” – F – Prattville, Ala. (Prattville Christian HS)
Ronita Garrett –6’0” – F – McCormick, S.C. (Georgia Perimeter)
Revonnia Howard –6’2” – F – Chicago, Ill. (Rock Valley College)
Brianna Lancaster –6’0” – F – Waynesboro, Miss. (Shelton State)
Chant Lewis – 5’8” –G – Winnfield, La. (Winnfield HS)
Aissata Maiga – 5’6” – G – Bamako, Mali (Gulf Coast State)
Michelle Mitchell –5’9” – G – Eastman, Ga. (Darton State)

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