Trojans lose second straight to Nicholls
Published 12:00 am Sunday, February 3, 2002
THIBODAUX, La. ­ The Troy State baseball team dropped its second game in as many days to Nicholls State, falling 4-2 at Didier Field on Saturday.
Trojan starter Justin Eason took the loss after working seven innings and allowing two earned runs on seven hits. The junior transfer from Central Alabama Community College struck out seven and walked one.
TSU (0-2) banged out 10 hits but stranded 11 men, including two in the second, third, fifth and seventh innings. Sophomore Wade Miller made the most of his first career start at catcher, going 1-for-3 with a run scored. He also threw out two would-be base stealers. Coby Smith, Casey O’Quinn and Al Stephens each had two hits for the Trojans.
The Colonels got solid work out of starter Mike Prejean, who gave up two runs while striking out four in five innings of work. Chris Brantley worked the final four innings and got his first save of the season.
After putting the Trojans down in order in the first, NSU plated the first run of the game when Rondon Anderson scored from third on Monti Mitchell’s infield single. The Colonels made the score 2-0 in the second inning when Jake Ritchie walked, advanced to second on a Chuck Hickman single, reached third via a fielder’s choice and scored on Brad Dantonio’s sacrifice fly to right field.
In the bottom of the third, NSU got an unearned run across after TSU shortstop Daryl Griggs mishandled a ground ball off the bat of Aaron McRae that gave the Colonels runners on first and second with nobody out.
After tallying just four hits over the first five innings, the Trojan bats came alive in the sixth with four hits and two runs on back-to-back RBI singles by O’Quinn and Stephens, which cut the deficit to one run, 3-2.
The Colonels added an insurance run off Trojan reliever Justin Morgan in the eighth to provide the final margin.
The Trojans and Colonels will conclude their three-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m.