Troy wins season opener over Central Michigan

Published 11:45 pm Friday, February 17, 2012

Troy head coach Bobby Pierce might not have been impressed with the two hits Troy produced against Central Michigan in the Trojans season opener on Friday but he’ll take a win anyday.

Troy knocked off the Chippewas 7-3 in front of 1,638 fans, which set a new record for a home opener.

“I certainly appreciate our fans coming and supporting our team,” Pierce said. “You never know what to expect on opening day. I wasn’t ready to win a game with only two hits.”

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Troy’s hit came on a Danny Collins single in the second inning and Josh McDorman single to lead off the fifth. The silver lining is that both came around to score.

Tyler Ray picked up the win on the mound for the Trojans leaving him just seven shy of the Sun Belt and Troy career wins record.

Central Michigan jumped out front early. Collins, who started his first career game for the Trojans at third base, committed a throwing error when the game’s lead off batter Jordan Dean chopped a ball done the line.

Dean would advance to second on the miscue and later score on a fielder’s choice.

The Trojans would quickly take back the lead in the second. Logan Pierce led of with a walk followed by Collins’ single. Blake Martz would also walk. CMU third baseman Tom Lally fielded a bounding ball of the bat of freshman Jo-El Bennett but his throw home sailed high giving Troy its first run. Jakob Nixon and Brandon Brown would plate runs in the inning on ground balls to give the Trojans the 3-1 advantage.

The Chippewas bats would be silenced until the sixth when William Arnold launched a solo homerun off of Ray to cut the lead to 4-2.

Ray would finish with eight strikeouts over six innings and would allow just two hits.

“I thought he threw a little better than I anticipated to open the season,” Pierce said of Ray. “His pitch count got a little high but he looked as sharp in the end as he did to start the game.”

Central Michigan starter Zach Collins was nearly as effective. The right-hander struck out seven in his six innings of work but also walked six.

Troy will return to action today at 11a.m. in the first game of a double-header. The game time was originally set for 1p.m. but was changed due to the threat of inclement weather.