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The Troy Trojans (10-4) lost a back-and-forth tussle with the 13th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide (12-1) on Wednesday by a score of 8-7 in Tuscaloosa.

Alabama held on to a 5-4 lead going into the seventh inning when Opelika native Brooks Bryan belted an RBI single into center field that drove Ethan Kavanagh home to tie the score. In the next at-bat, Blake Sutton drove home Will Butcher to put the Trojans up 6-5.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Alabama scored three runs – including a solo home run – that gave the Tide an 8-6 lead. In the top of the eighth, the Trojans attempted to rally as Kavanagh drove Kole Homers home to put Troy within one run but that was as close as they would get.

“That game was there to be won; it’s unfortunate the last few times we’ve played them, it’s been a similar script; thankfully, we get them again later in the year,” Troy Coach Skylar Meade said. “Hopefully, we’ll take the lessons learned from this evening and move forward. I thought we handled a lot of uniqueness, to be politically correct, well throughout the course of the game.

Kavanagh led Troy at the plate, going 4-for-5 with an RBI and two runs, while Brooks went 2-for-3 with four RBIs. Petyon Watts also belted a solo home run. Garrett Gainous struck out three batters, while giving up three hits and no earned runs in two and 2/3 innings pitched, while Ryan Pettys struck out three batters and gave up two hits and three earned runs in one and 1/3 innings on the mound.

Eblin Bryce led Alabama at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run, while Gage Miller hit a home run. Braylon Myers got the win on the mound for the Tide, striking out two batters along with giving up one hit and one earned run. Alton Davis II got the save, giving up no hits or runs in one and 1/3 innings pitched.

Troy heads to Indiana for a series this weekend with the Hoosiers that will air on the Big10 Network+. Troy then heads to Madison, Ala., on March 12 for a matchup with the Auburn Tigers.