Troy walks off Appalachian State in Sun Belt Tournament
Published 12:50 pm Wednesday, May 24, 2023
- Troy’s Kole Myers hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th in the opening round of the Sun Belt Tournament.
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In the bottom of the 10th inning of the opening round of the Sun Belt Baseball Tournament on Wednesday, Troy’s Kole Myers hit a walk off single that drove in the winning run to give the Trojans a 10-9 win over Appalachian State.
Troy managed to rally from being down 5-0 going into the bottom of the fifth inning to come back and secure a win in the opening round. In the bottom of the fifth, Ozark native Brooks Bryan got Troy on the scoreboard first with a three-run home run that cut the Mountaineer lead to 5-3. Caleb Bartolero then hit an RBI single that drove Myers home and William Sullivan drove Ethan Kavanah home to tie the score 5-5.
In the bottom of the sixth, Troy took its first lead of the game when Donovan Whibbs scored on an error. The Trojans extended the lead to 7-5 in the bottom of the seventh when Bartolero belted a solo home run.
Going into the ninth inning, Troy seemed poised to secure the win but Appalachian State rallied and scored four runs in the inning to take a 9-7 lead. In the bottom of the ninth, Tremayne Cobb Jr. belted a clutch two-run homer that tied the score 9-9 and forced extra innings.
After the Trojan defense earned three outs – in just four total batters – in the top of the 10th, Kyle Mock was hit by a pitch as the leadoff batter. Clay Stearns was then walked and the next batter was Meyers, who drilled an RBI double into center field that drove Mock home for the winning run.
Bartolero had a big day at the plate for Troy, going 4-for-5 with two RBIs, a homer and two runs. Myers went 2-for-5 with a double, a triple, one RBI and one run. Noah Manning got the win on the mound, striking out one batter and giving up three hits and no earned runs in two innings pitched. Grayson Stewart pitched five innings and fanned two batters, while giving up eight hits and five earned runs.
The win advances Troy to the second round of the double-elimination tournament to face the winner of No. 7 seed James Madison and No. 2 seed Southern Miss at 4 p.m. on Thursday at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery. Appalachian State will play in an elimination game on Thursday morning.