Believe it or not…

February 24, 2008

Drew Champlin

but Troy’s men won a game Saturday night, beating FIU 66-59. That’s a team that had won three in a row and had beaten Troy by 25 earlier this year in Miami.

Effortwise, Troy didn’t play like a last-place team. The defense forced 22 turnovers, causing FIU all kinds of problems. I thought they might blow it when FIU’s Alex Galindo hit 3 straight 3s to tie it late, but Tom Jervis made a nice move late and the Trojans’ defense stepped up big, not letting Galindo get off any more shots and forcing bad shots at the end of the shot clock.

FIU is like Troy except that it has a dominant big man in 7-footer Russell Hicks, but Hicks was held to just 8 points on 5 shots with 5 rebounds. Troy’s center tandem of Jarvis Acker and Tom Jervis played great, I thought, combining for 15 points, 10 rebounds and five steals. O’Darien Bassett was very good with 26 points and during the game I can only remember about 3 bad shots taken.

Troy hosts FAU Wednesday in a winnable game and hits the road to face MTSU next Saturday. Troy’s going to be on the road in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament. My prediction? You better hope they get sent to Denver, because I think they’ll win there. No chance at North Texas, ULL or Arkansas-Little Rock. Others (MTSU, FAU, New Orleans) are toss-ups. FIU, Arkansas State and ULM will for sure be on the road early and Western Kentucky and South Alabama will have byes as will the winner of the West (could be ULL, UNT or UALR).

Obviously it’s not a great season by any means for the Trojans, but this is how it’s shaping up.

Troy finishes DH with sweep, winning 6-1

February 23, 2008

Drew Champlin

Junior lefty Travis Burge was very good for Troy, allowing just 3 hits in 7 innings. His two-seam fastball induced a lot of weak grounders in the 6-1 win.

“The movement on it (was good),” Burge said. “I couldn’t really tell, I was just trying to hit my spots.”

Senior Bryan Miller was the hitting star, hitting a 3-run homer in the fourth that broke a 1-1 tie and a two-run double to deep left-center in the fifth that just missed being a home run.

“He had been getting me on the curve ball all day, so I guessed a little bit and I guessed right (on the home run),” Miller said. “He hung it pretty good.”

Troy’s pitching has been very good through the first three games. URI has just scored in 2 of 27 total innings - two runs coming off a home run Friday and one in game 2 Saturday. The Trojan pitchers have been getting a lot of ground balls, so you figure they’d be doing well in a little league park at this point.

However, Rhode Island is going to be one of the worst teams they face all year, but the walks have been minimal and pitch counts have been low.

“We do have some guys throwing some pretty good two-seam fastballs that are sinking,” Troy head coach Bobby Pierce said. “There will be some tests down the road, we know that, but to open the season with guys getting the ball in the strike zone and getting good break on their secondary pitches is a good sign for us.”

AJ Howard and Neal Jordan each pitched scoreless innings in relief of Burge.

Troy wins game one of DH, 9-0

Drew Champlin

Sophomore Tim Wheeler was the pitching star of game one of the doubleheader with Rhode Island as the Trojans won 9-0. Wheeler pitched six innings, striking out five. Eight of his outs were of the ground ball variety and he could have had a ninth if not for a throwing error. This is good for a guy that gave up 14 home runs last year.

“I felt real good,” Wheeler said. “I’m just glad the hitters came out and the defense played well.”

Junior Mike Powers struck out the side in one inning of relief. Freshman Drew Hull pitched the eighth and senior JJ Whetsel, making his return from missing last year because of arm surgery, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.

Most of Wheeler’s home runs last year barely went over the fence on a short Riddle-Pace Field. Now with the renovations, it has been expanded and pitchers have more wiggle room.

“We realized that (short home runs) were going to go for both teams,” Wheeler said. “You can’t do much about that — when the wind’s blowing out, that’s going to happen.”

Sophomore DH Daryl Otwell went 3-for-4. Senior RF Bryan Miller drove in two runs. Junior 2B Trevor Tyre drove in three runs - two on a double in a five-run fourth inning.

The teams are playing Game 2 right now, with Troy holding a 1-0 lead in the third. I’ve got this game then men’s basketball tonight at 8 p.m. It’s the perfect day for me to be here all day since my wife was hosting a baby shower for one of her friends at our house

Troy baseball wins opener

February 22, 2008

Drew Champlin

I wasn’t there - decided not to chance the rain - but Troy opened its renovated facility with a 9-2 win over Rhode Island Friday night.

The Trojans scored 6 runs in the 7th to break open the game.

STAR OF THE GAME: JUCO transfer Brock Kelley came off the bench and drove in four runs. His 3-run home run in the 7th gave Troy a 7-2 lead and was the knockout punch. Kelley, a first baseman, wasn’t even mentioned to me when I was writing up the previews so that’s good to see for him and for Troy.

PITCHING NOTES: Freshman A.J. Howard, a native of nearby Columbia, got the win in his first appearance. Howard, a hard-throwing lefty, got a walk, double play and a strikeout. Senior Ryan Ellison started the game and struck out 7 in six innings, giving up just a 2-run home run for the only two URI runs. Neal Jordan and Josh Storm each logged an inning.

ALSO OF NOTE: Sophomore DH Daryl Otwell went 3-for-4 in his Troy debut and catcher Beau Brooks went 2-for-4.

NEXT UP: Troy hosts URI for games 2 and 3, with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. I anticipate being there for game coverage. A long day of Troy athletics culminating with the basketball game at the end of the day. Junior Travis Burge and sophomore Tim Wheeler are Troy’s projected starting pitchers.

QUOTABLE: “I was very proud of Ryan (Ellison tonight,” Troy head coach Bobby Pierce said.  “He made one mistake on the home run but other than that, he was solid.  He had good command of his curve and I hate that he didn’t get the win.”

“Brock did a good job at the plate for us tonight,” Pierce said. “I was very proud of our guys and how they kept playing hard after falling behind early. We kept swinging the bats and the hits fell for us late.  I was proud of how we fought.”

Troy media relations contributed to this report

Troy basketball time change

Drew Champlin

Because of the AHSAA state tournament, Troy’s women will play at 5:45 p.m. Saturday night and the men 30 minutes following - they’ll probably tip off at 8 p.m.

Those of us with earlier deadlines? We don’t like it, but you as fans needed to know.