Troy bests App State in weekend baseball series

Published 9:27 am Monday, April 15, 2024

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The Troy Trojans picked up a weekend Sun Belt Conference series win April 13-14 over the Appalachian State Mountaineers, winning 2-of-3 games on the road.

Troy started the weekend off with a dominant 17-2 win on April 13. Opelika native Brooks Bryan was on fire, going 4-for-6 at the plate with a home run, five RBIs and two runs. Ethan Kavanagh went 2-for-5 with four RBIs and a run, while Will Butcher went 2-for-5 with a homer, one RBI and two runs. Luke Lyon pitched eight innings and struck out one batter, while giving up six hits and two earned runs.

Later in the day, Appalachian State rebounded to beat Troy 11-1 in game two to tie the series. Appalachian State belted five home runs in the game. Bryan led Troy at the plate again, going 2-for-3 with a home run, one RBI and one run.

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Garrett Gainous took the loss on the mound, giving up two hits and two earned runs with three strikeouts in four innings pitched. Grayson Stewart pitched two and 1/3 innings and fanned three batters along with giving up five hits and three earned runs.

Troy closed out the series by throttling the Mountaineers by a score of 13-5 on April 14. After giving up five homers in the previous game, Troy earned a season-high five home runs of their own in game three.

Kyle Mock went 4-for-5 with a pair of homers, two RBIs and three runs. Kavanagh went 3-for-4 with a run. Aidan Gilroy, Ben Arnett and Peyton Watts each hit a home run. Logan Ross earned his 10th win on the mound, striking out six and giving up just two hits and no runs in four innings pitched.

“Fun day at the yard. It didn’t start that way through the first couple of innings, but the middle and end were solid for us,” Troy Coach Skylar Meade said. “App has such a good team and such a dynamic lineup, so when you can go on the road and win against a high-quality team in the fashion that we did, it’s a huge confidence booster.

“Not that we lack any confidence. It took a high ability of toughness to overcome getting punched in the mouth early. But Mock and so many guys were able to connect their bats. Just an overall good job by multiple parties, and I loved our dugout today.”

Troy travels to Samford on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. game before hosting Jacksonville State at 6 p.m. on April 17.