Troy baseball wins opener
February 22, 2008
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
