Denison Drives in Six to Lead Troy Past Tennessee Tech
TROY, Alabama – Joey Denison brought home a career-high six runs to lead Troy past Tennessee Tech, 10-7, in Friday's series opener at Riddle-Pace Field.

The senior finished the game 2-for-4 with a three-run triple and a two-run homer – his second career triple and second round tripper of the season.

Troy (6-4) extended its home winning streak to 11 games by limiting one of the country's top scoring teams to only seven runs – two of which came in the late innings. Tennessee Tech (5-3) came into the game averaging 14.3 runs per game, which is the second-most nationally.

In a 3.1 inning relief stint, Corey Childress (1-1) shut down the potent Golden Eagle offense by limiting them to just one hit – a two-run homer in the eighth. Childress struck out four and retired as many as eight straight batters in the outing.

Sadler Goodwin (1) recorded his first career save in his first career save opportunity after fanning a batter and forcing a game-ending double play in the ninth.

The pitching staff was aided by another strong Trojan offensive performance in the matchup, as five different batters turned in multiple hits – Denison, Matt Sanders, Drew Frederic, Manning Early and Rigsby Mosely. Sanders extended his team-best hitting streak to 17 games and Mosley launched his second career homer in the third inning.

The Golden Eagles fell despite having all nine positions record at least one hit in the game, all led by Trevor Putzig – 3-for-5 with a homer, two doubles and three RBIs. Travis Moths (2-1) suffered the loss after giving up six runs on six hits in three innings of work.

Quotable – Troy head coach Mark Smartt
"They're a really good offensive team. But the story of our game was Corey Childress, he was outstanding. I hate he gave up that homer but he stopped everything and shut it all down. This was an important game one win for our program, that's a regional-caliber team on the other side of the field."

Senior outfielder Joey Denison
"It was a good night for me, but that's because there were a lot of other guys on base in front of me. Their guys were throwing out of the stretch to me, so I was fortunate enough to get to hit in those situations."

Senior pitcher Corey Childress
"I came in and we scored four runs right off the bat, so I was able to settle in and get ahead. I had to attack because these guys are a good hitting team."

Sound "Smartt" With Your Friends
Troy scored double-digit runs for the fourth time this season – the Trojans are 4-0 in those games. It also marked the fifth time the Trojans have posted a double-digit total in the hit column (4-1).

Texas State blanks Lumberjacks in series opener
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team opened a weekend series with a 13-0 victory over Stephen F. Austin Friday night at Bobcat Ballpark.

The Bobcats (4-4) took the first meeting between the two programs since 2012, and the maroon and gold is 13-5 over the Lumberjacks (0-8) in the last 18 meetings.

The game was secured in the second inning, when TXST plated nine runs to pull away from the visitors. The tally was the highest in a single frame since Texas State scored 10 times in the eighth against Prairie View A&M on May 18, 2010. The Bobcats added four more runs in the fourth to complete the scoring.

The big second frame saw 15 different batters come to the plate. Seniors Luke Sherley and Derek Scheible both hit home runs, and classmate Dylan Paul scored twice.

Scheible finished the game with a career-high-tying four RBIs, while Sherley drove in three teammates. Paul was 2-for-3 with three total runs scored, while senior Jared Huber and sophomore Cole Coffey both scored twice. Huber also tallied two RBIs, and junior Jonathan Ortega was 3-for-4.

Sophomore Nicholas Fraze (2-1) did not allow a run for the second-straight outing. He pitched 7.0 scoreless innings and conceded just three hits, while striking out six and walking three. Junior Kyle Bradford tossed a clean eighth inning, striking out two in the process. Fellow junior Wes Engle was perfect in the ninth, also adding a K.

SFA's three hits were sprinkled between Nick Daley, Jake Georgiades and Eric DeJesus. Cole Ridgely (0-2) lasted 1.1 innings on the hill before being relieved by Josh Ponder. Ridgely conceded eight runs on seven hits, while Ponder also gave up a run and recorded just one out. The visitors utilized three additional arms in the contest.

The Bobcats and Lumberjacks are set to continue the series at 4 p.m. March 3.

GADDIS WINS THIRD STRAIGHT AS GSU TOPS EIU 7-2
ATLANTA -- Will Kilgore and Kendall Ford drove in two runs each and Hunter Gaddis won his third straight start as Georgia State earned a 7-2 victory over Eastern Illinois in Friday's series opener at the GSU Baseball Complex.

GSU improved to 5-3 on the season and snapped Eastern Illinois' (5-3) five-game winning streak.

Georgia State entered the game as the NCAA leader in double plays, and the Panthers turned four tonight in support of Gaddis, who pitched into the eighth inning to improve to 3-0. The sophomore right-hander allowed just one run on six hits with four strikeouts and three walks.

But Gaddis and the Panthers trailed 1-0 until the sixth inning. With runners at first and third with two outs after singles by Nick Gatewood and Jake Corso, Jack Thompson tied the game with an RBI-single and then Luke Leonard singled to give Georgia State a 2-1 lead. Kilgore brought home two more with a single up the middle, and Georgia State led 4-1 after six.

In the seventh, freshman Andrew Keene led off with a double to the left field corner for his first collegiate hit, and then senior shortstop Justin Jones sacrified him to third. That was Jones' 33rd career sacrifice bunt, tying the Georgia State record set by Ryan Sterling. Then Gatewood, who had three hits on the day, singled to right field to score Keene and put GSU up 5-1.

Ford came off the bench in the eighth and delivered a pinch-hit, two-run single to increase Georgia State's lead to 7-1.

After Eastern Illinois managed a run in the ninth, Georgia State closer Jansen Acton came on with the bases loaded and struck out the final two batters to earn his second save.

EIU starter Alex Stevenson (1-1) blanked GSU for five innings but allowed four runs in the sixth. His final line saw him ptich 5-2/3 innings and allow four runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and no walks.

Georgia State now has 17 double plays in the first eight games after turning twin killings in the first (first baseman unassisted to short), fourth (line drive to first baseman, doubled the runner at first), fifth (third baseman unassisted to first) and eighth (shortstop unassisted to first).

CCU Baseball Takes 6-3 Decision From Ball State
CONWAY - Coastal Carolina Scored four runs in the third inning and it proved to be enough as the Chanticleers defeated Ball State. 6-3, Friday night in the Johnny Gardner Law Group Tournament at Springs Brooks Stadium.

The Chanticleers (9-2) entered the game with one of the nation's top offenses, but only managed five hits. However, Ball State (3-5) walked six and hit a batter. Coastal walked 10 and hit five batters to help the Cardinals scored their three runs in the fourth inning.

Day two of the Johnny Gardner Law Group Tournament features Radford and Ball State at 11 am with Coastal hosting Maryland afterwards (approximately 3 pm).

Coastal opened the scoring with four runs in the bottom of the fourth. Matt Beaird, Parker Chavers and Cory Wood walked to load the bases. Kieton Rivers followed with a two-run double down the third base line. Seth Lancaster (with a double) and Kevin Woodall Jr., (with a ground out) brought home Chavers and Rivers, respectively, for the four-run lead.

Ball State bounced back with three runs in the top of the fourth. A walk and two hit batters loaded the bases for the Cardinals. Griffin Hulecki drew a walk to force home William Baker. Chase Sebby was also hit by a pitch to force home Jeff Riedel. John Ricotta grounded out to plate Colin Brockhouse to trim the BSU deficit to one, 4-3.

The Chants pushed a run across the plate in the fifth for a 5-3 advantage. Chavers hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a Cory Wood sacrifice bunt and scored on a wild pitch.

Woodall gave the Chanticleers some breathing room with a solo home run in the eighth. The blast was his fifth of the season and the senior now has 17 RBI for the young season.

Jason Bilous (2-0) got the win for Coastal. He allowed two hits and three runs in six innings with three walks, five hit batters and six strikeouts. Matt Eardensohn picked up his first save. The junior college transfer, who is 2-0 in relief, worked the three scoreless innings to close the game. He allowed one hit and one walk with four strikeouts.

Early Deficit, Late Demon Rally Costs Trojans Friday
LITTLE ROCK - Little Rock rallied from an early 4-0 deficit to take a 5-4 lead after six innings Friday night. But two Northwestern State runs in the top of the eighth paced the Demons to the 6-5 victory at Gary Hogan Field.

After the Demons plated three runs in the second and another in the third, Little Rock was able to cool off the Northwestern State bats, beginning its rally in the bottom of the fifth off a sacrifice fly from Eldridge Figueroa, scoring Nick Perez to get the Trojans on the board.

Little Rock then burst out for four runs in the home half of the sixth, beginning the inning with three singles and a hit-by-pitch, leading to a two RBI single from Troy Alexander to pull the Trojans to within one at 4-3. A single from Kale Emshoff scored Matt Merino to tie the game, then Alexander escaped from a pickle between third and home when a Demon error allowed him to score, putting the Trojans on top 5-4.

With the lead, Perez came on and shut down Northwestern State in the seventh, stranding runners on first and third. In the eighth, however, the Demons hit a leadoff double and followed it up with a bunt single, leading to a sacrifice bunt to plate the game-tying run. Northwestern State got the go-ahead run off a single through the left side as Ryan Benavidez' throw home was not in time.

Little Rock staged one final rally in the bottom of the ninth as Emshoff hit a towering opposite field shot to right, but a leaping grab into the wall stole a potential leadoff double from him. That all but ended the threat as the Trojans went down in order to close the game.

Alexander upped his RBI total to 13 on the season, finishing 1-for-4 at the plate while also getting one run. Emshoff lead the Trojans in batting going 2-for-4 at the plate as he continues to post the highest average on the team, hitting.438.

Perez was credited with the loss on the evening, pushing his record to 1-1 as he gave up two earned runs off of three hits and one walk. Starter Carter Brown lasted only two innings, giving up three runs off of two hits and one walk while hitting two batters.

Justin Garcia added to his strikeout total with two more tonight in his 0.2 innings pitched. His season total is now at 25 which currently slides him into a tie for second nationally.

The Trojans will take on the Demons tomorrow for game two of the series with the first pitch at 2 p.m. at Gary Hogan Field. It is Food Truck Saturday so the first 250 students get vouchers for the food truck vendors.

Ninth Inning Rally Dooms Mavs In Series Opener
ARLINGTON, Texas -- After rallying to take a two-run lead in the sixth inning, UTA allowed Wright State two-run innings in the eighth and ninth to suffer an 8-6 loss in the series opener, on Friday evening at Clay Gould Ballpark.

UTA (3-4) fell behind to the red-hot Wright State (4-5) Raiders after the second inning, allowing a three-run homer in the first and a one-run second. The Mavs rallied with a five-run sixth to take a 6-4 lead but a pair of two-run frames from the Raiders handed the Mavs a two-run loss.

ON THE MOUND
UTA starter Ka'ikepono Anderson (0-0) worked seven innings, allowing eight hits and four runs – three earned – walking one and striking out two. He allowed a three-run homer in the first and a run in the second before settling down and throwing up five straight shutout innings.

Drew Gooch took over to open the eighth inning with a two-run lead, getting an out but exiting with the bases loaded and one out after a hit and two walks. UTA called on Daniel James with the bases juiced and one out. James was victimized by a misplayed, inning-ending double play ball but escaped the eighth without surrendering the lead, keeping it at 6-6.

Wright State starter Ryan Weiss (1-0) worked 5.2 innings, allowing eight hits and six runs, walking one and striking out four. Jason Foster escaped the sixth inning, XXXX

LEADING THE MAVS
UTA collected eight hits in the game, getting a two-hit game from Will Olson, with the Sherman, Texas native belting his first homer of the year and the third of his career. UTA also got hits from RJ Williams, Noah Vaughan, Omar Salinas, Christian Hollie, Jakob Nunez and Josh Minjarez.

NEXT
The series will resume on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT at Clay Gould Ballpark. The game will be broadcast live on UTAMavs.com, with Samuel Hale voicing the action. UTA will start senior lefty Brad Vassar (1-0, 2.45 ERA) in his first start of the year.

HOW THEY SCORED
Wright State struck for three in the top of the first inning, getting a leadoff runner on and putting runners on the corners after a fielding error and a one-out single Gabe Snyder then belted a three-run homer over the right-centerfield fence for his first of the year.

UTA got a run back to cut the lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the third inning with Olson ripping his first homer of the year, a blast over the rightfield fence.

The Mavs rallied from behind to take the lead, getting a leadoff double from Williams down the leftfield line. After a pair of outs, Hollie doubled down the rightfield line, scoring Williams. Olson then smashed a first-pitch RBI single into right to score Hollie, with Olson taking second on a walk from Cook. Nunez then tied the game with a single into leftfield to score Olson from second base. Minjarez followed with a two-run double, painted down the leftfield line, to score Nunez and Cook.

Wright State evened up the game in the eighth inning, getting a double sandwiched around one-out walks to load the bases. UTA induced a potential double play ball to the left side but it was misplayed for an error, leaving the bases juiced with one out and scoring WSU's fifth run. James then got a roller to the right side for the second out at second base.

The Raiders took the lead with two in the ninth inning. Five straight singles led to two runs, with UTA getting a runner out at the plate on a base hit.

GS Baseball Drops Series Opener to Elon, 4-2
STATESBORO, GA. – Georgia Southern Baseball dropped a 4-2 decision on Friday night to Elon to open a three game series on Jack Stallings Field at J.I. Clements Stadium. The starting pitchers were outstanding for both teams with Brian Eichhorn allowing just two runs over six innings of work. Elon's George Kirby also allowed two runs over his six innings, but earned the win with 11 strikeouts. The same two teams are back on the diamond on Friday at Noon.

Elon's Robbie Welhaf closed the game out by retiring the final nine outs on strikes for his first save of the year. The Eagles fanned 20 times in the game, their highest total since March 20, 2015 when the Eagles stuck out 21 times against Arkansas State.

SCORING PLAYS
Top 6th - Elon got a single and a walk to start the sixth inning off Brian Eichhorn, setting the table for cleanup hitter James Venuto to double in the right field gap, giving the visitors a 2-0 lead.
Bottom 6th - Georgia Southern answered back in the home half of the sixth with singles from Steven Curry and Mitchell Golden. Mason McWhorter doubled down the left field line, plating Curry and moving Golden to third. Later in the inning, Christian Avant flied out to left, but the ball was not deep enough to score Golden who initially broke from third to draw the throw. The relay throw was cut off by the shortstop who tried to catch Golden off base at second, allowing Golden to scamper home and tie the game at 2-2.
Top 7th - After a strikeout by relief pitcher Braxton Johns to retire the first out of the inning, back-to-back doubles plated a run and re-took the lead at 3-2.
Top 8th - Elon tacked on another run in the eighth thanks to two errors on one play by the Eagles. The run made it a 4-2 advantage by the Phoneix.

NOTES
- Brian Eichhorn went six innings to log his second quality start of the season, allowing two runs off six hits. The junior struck out seven batters and walked two while throwing 98 pitches.
- Chandler Corley led the Eagles at the plate with a pair of hits.
- All 11 batters with a plate appearance for the Eagles struck out at least once with the Eagles striking out 20 times in the contest. It was Georgia Southern's largest strikeout total since March 20, 2015 against Arkansas State.

@AStateBaseball Falls in 11 Innings to UNO
NEW ORLEANS, La. (3/2/18) – The Arkansas State baseball team got a career-high eight innings out of Bradey Welsh, but New Orleans’ Darren Willis singled up the middle with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning to send A-State to a 2-1 loss in the series opener Friday night at Maestri Field.

UNO (5-5) first baseman Jacob McFadden singled to begin the bottom of the 11th off A-State (3-3) reliever Jesse Kutzke and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Kutzke walked the next batter, but recorded outs via strikeout and fielder’s choice to put runners on the corners with two outs. A hit-by-pitch loaded the bases to set up the walk-off single by Willis to give New Orleans the 2-1 win.

Welsh allowed just one run on three hits with one walk and five strikeouts in the eight innings. However, he hit two batters with the first leading to the Privateers’ first run. He hit Jay Robinson with two outs in the bottom of the fifth and Robinson came around to score on a single after stealing second base.

UNO starter Bryan Warzek tossed six innings and allowed three hits with three walks and 12 punch outs. John Barr pitched the game’s final five innings and earned the win for New Orleans after allowing just two hits.

Drew Tipton scored A-State’s only run in the top of the third after a throwing error by the Privateers. Logan Andersen led the team with two hits on the night and had the only extra-base hit of the game with his first double of the season in the sixth inning.

Arkansas State and New Orleans resume the series Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.

NO. 3 TTU DEFEATS NO. 11 JAGS IN SERIES OPENER
LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 3 Texas Tech pitching staff limited the No. 11 University of South Alabama baseball team to two hits in an 8-1 Red Raider win in the series opener Friday at Rip Griffin Park.

TTU (10-0) finished with 12 hits in the game, and scored multiple runs in three different innings to secure game one of the series.

South Alabama (7-3) will return to action Saturday with a scheduled doubleheader with No. 3 TTU, with game one set for a noon first pitch. Game two of the doubleheader is scheduled to start at 4 p.m.

GAME FACTS
- USA threatened in the top of the second, but did not push across a run. Hunter Stokes singled to center field with one out, and moved to second on an error by TTU shortstop Michael Davis on a grounder to second off the bat of Paul Russo on a potential double-play ball. A fielder's choice on a grounder to second by Carter Perkins allowed Stokes to move to third to put runners at the corners with two outs. But TTU right-hander Davis Martin struck out Felix Aberouette to escape the inning and preserve a scoreless tie.
- TTU pushed across the game's first runs in the bottom of the third. Cameron Warren led off the inning with a single to shortstop, and advanced to second when Clay Koelzer reached on a hit by pitch. A groundout to second by Cody Farhat allowed both runners to move into scoring position with one out. Gabe Holt followed with an RBI infield single to shortstop to score Warren with the game's first run. Holt then stole second to set up two runners in scoring position with one out before Kurt Wilson delivered a two-run triple to right field for a 3-0 Red Raider lead. Brian Klein drew a two-out walk before stealing second to set up two runners in scoring position for Grant Little, but Jaguar right-hander Tyler Carr recorded a strikeout to end the inning.
- The Red Raiders put runners at the corners with no outs in the bottom of the fourth on a leadoff single by Davis and single to left field by Warren. Koelzer followed with an RBI single through the right side of the infield for a 4-0 TTU advantage. Farhat then delivered an RBI single to right field to extend the Red Raider lead to 5-0. Carr rolled a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Holt for the first two outs of the inning, but Koelzer scored on the play to push the TTU lead to 6-0.
- USA scored its first run of the game in the top of the fifth inning. Aberouette reached on a two-out walk, and advanced to third on a double to right field by Dylan Hardy. A walk by Brendan Donovan loaded the bases before a passed ball on Koelzer allowed Aberouette to score from third and cut the TTU lead to 6-1.
- Hunter Brittain drew a pinch-hit walk to lead off the top of the seventh inning, and moved to second when Aberouette drew a walk with no outs.
- TTU pushed its lead to 7-1 in the bottom of the seventh on a one-out RBI triple to left-center field by Josh Jung, and added the game's final run later in the inning on a passed ball charged to Aberouette that allowed Jung to score.

NOTES
- Hunter Brittain pinch-hit for Perkins in the top of the seventh, which marked his first career at-bat at South Alabama.
- Hardy extended his hitting streak to six games.
- Swaggerty's seven-game hitting streak ended after he finished 0-for-4 at the plate.
- Hardy and Wells Davis extended their on-base streak to 10 games apiece.
- Hardy had a double, and Stokes finished with one hit for USA.
- Five Red Raiders recorded multiple hits in the game, led by Wilson who went 2-for-3 with a triple, two RBIs and one run scored.
- TTU right-hander Martin (3-0) allowed one unearned run on two hits with four strikeouts and three walks in five innings pitched to earn the win.
- Carr (1-1) allowed six runs on nine hits with four strikeouts against one walk in six innings in the loss.

QUOTES
Head Coach Mark Calvi
- On the game:
"Their (TTU) guy, Martin, is the number-one (starter) in the Big 12 for the third-ranked team in the country. I thought we gave some at-bats away; we rolled over, and didn't do a good enough job of handling his changeup. We hit a couple of balls hard, but our lefties need to do a better job with a guy with a changeup. That's the second time we have faced a guy with a decent changeup, and we haven't been competitive enough in the box from the left side and that's disappointing. We have some older guys who didn't make an adjustment and drive him up the middle, which was our game plan. Most of our outs from the left side were on the right side of second base, and that's concerning. We have to get better with that moving forward. Tyler Carr competed well. He gave up two hard-hit balls, and to Texas Tech's credit they found some holes and put together two three-run innings and a two spot so I give them credit for mounting some offense. But Tyler competed, and as a staff we need to do a better job. We were out-played tonight."

On the rest of the series:
"I told our guys that there is plenty of series left, and that we need to provide a little more resistance. We need to push somebody – we need to push them back. We need to pressure somebody, get our offense going and use our speed on the bases. That means getting our leadoff guy on and having better at-bats – not getting ourselves out or letting a guy pitch to us as much. That's what we need to do. We need to do a better job leading off the inning. We'll face really good arms tomorrow; it will be no different. We need to fight back and provide more resistance than we did tonight, for sure offensively."

Cajuns Baseball Falls In Ninth Inning To Mississippi State
HOUSTON, Texas – A two-run ninth inning for Mississippi State was the difference on Friday night as the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns fell 3-1 to the 21st-ranked Bulldogs on the opening day of the Shriners College Classic at Minute Maid Park.

Freshman Brock Batty took the loss for the Cajuns (3-6) after giving up two runs on five hits in 3.1 innings of work. Reliever Cole Gordon picked up the victory for Mississippi State (4-5) tossing two perfect innings with four strikeouts. MSU starter Konnor Pilkington didn't factor into the decision despite holding the Ragin' Cajuns to one run on three hits in seven innings with 13 strikeouts.

Junior Nick Lee surrendered just one unearned run in his start. Lee struck out seven in 5.2 innings while scattering four hits and three walks.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Ragin' Cajuns got on the board first in the bottom of the fourth when freshman Jonathan Windham recorded his first collegiate hit sending a two-out single back up the middle to plate Hunter Kasuls and make the score 1-0.

The Bulldogs evened the game at 1-all in the top of the sixth when Dustin Skelton was hit by a pitch with two outs and the bases loaded. Batty came on in the inning and struck out Tanner Poole to end the threat and keep the contest tied.

After a pair of scoreless innings, Mississippi State grabbed the lead in the top of the ninth on a solo home run to left by Poole. Later in the inning, Tanner Allen added an insurance run on a two-out RBI single through the right side of the infield to make the final 3-1.

UP NEXT

Louisiana returns to action tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. against No. 12 Vanderbilt at the Shriners College Classic. The Cajuns close out the weekend on Sunday at 11 a.m. against No. 7 Kentucky.