Extra punch: Troy falls to Arkansas State 9-3 in conference opener at Riddle-Pace Field

Published 10:05 pm Friday, March 15, 2019

The Arkansas State Red Wolves entered Riddle-Pace Field with 36 doubles and 18 home runs on the season. They added to both totals in their 9-3 win over the Troy Trojans in the conference opener on Friday night.

The Trojans allowed six doubles and two home runs in their lopsided loss.

The loss for Trojans drops them to 9-8 overall and 0-1 in conference play.

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Following a near-no-hitter in his last outing, Troy starter Levi Thomas lasted just 4.1 innings. He allowed seven runs on nine hits and two walks.

The Red Wolves sent 10 batters to the plate in the second inning and scored the game’s first six runs. The Red Wolves hit four extra base hits in the inning including a two-run home run to left center by Justin Felix. The Red Wolves had three doubles in the inning by Jaylon Deshazier, Tyler Duncan and Alex Howard. Both Duncan’s and Howard’s doubles drove in runs.

With a runner on second and first, Manning Early, who began the game hitting .073, dropped a double in between the left fielder and third baseman down the left field line to score both Hunter mercer and Logan Cerny to bring the score to 6-2 after two.

The Trojans had an opportunity to cut into their deficit more in the bottom of third when they loaded the bases, but a Cerny strikeout ended the threat.

The Red Wolves loaded the bases in the top of the fifth courtesy of two hit batters, and pushed their lead to five runs at 7-2 on a sacrifice fly.

Extra bases played a factor again in the sixth inning. Howard began the inning with home run to left field. They also had an RBI double by Sky-Lar Culver and the Red Wolves took a 9-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth.

The Trojans picked up their third run in the seventh on a Mercer single that drove in Dalton Sinquefield.

Following Thomas’s time on the mound, freshman Bay Witcher pitched the remaining 4.2 innings. The Freshman allowed two runs on five hits. He struck out four batters.

The Trojans finished with 10 hits led by Early and Sinquefield who both finished 3-4. Early added two RBI.  Chase Smartt finished 2-5.

The Trojans will continue their series against Arkansas State on Saturday at 3 p.m. before closing out the series on Sunday at 1 p.m.