Troy’s 2022 baseball season ended two wins short of a Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament championship on Saturday, as Georgia Southern piled on the late runs in an 8-0 semifinal victory at Montgomery’s Riverwalk Stadium.
The Trojans (32-24) trailed just 1-0 heading into the top of the eighth, before the Eagles (40-17) tacked on four in that inning and three in the ninth to win going away. Troy didn’t get a runner to third base until the bottom of the ninth inning, managed just two hits over the final 5 1/3 innings against Georgia Southern reliever Ben Johnson and eight hits overall against Johnson and starter Hayden Harris.
“First off, I commend Georgia Southern,” Troy coach Skylar Meade said. “They did a great job, their coaching staff was incredibly prepared as they’ve been all year. They’re a really good team.
“... (Harris), they made a call going with him and he competed very well, made some big pitches. We had him on the ropes a little bit early and didn’t take advantage of it. Then (Johnson) came in and just assaulted the zone, felt like he was just continually beating us with the fastball, which is disappointing. But at the same time it wasn’t for lack of effort, we just didn’t get the job done.”
Georgia Southern advances to the Sun Belt championship game for the second straight year and fifth time since joining the conference in 2015. The Eagles have lost in all four of their previous attempts to win the league tournament title, falling to Louisiana in 2016, South Alabama in 2017 and 2021 and Coastal Carolina in 2019.
Georgia Southern will face Louisiana — which upset top-seeded Texas State 3-2 in Saturday’s other semifinal — at 1 p.m. Sunday for the Sun Belt title. The Eagles are already virtually assured of being an at-large NCAA regional participant, but hosting a regional is still in play.
“That was one of our goals, 40 wins — hit that today and now we’re playing for a championship,” said Harris, who held Troy scoreless through the first 3 2/3 innings before turning things over to Johnson. “Some of the older guys it’s our third time, so hopefully it’s third time’s the charm. Gotta get it done tomorrow.”
On Saturday, both Harris and Troy starter Garrett Gainous hung zeroes on the board through the first four innings. Gainous, limited by arm trouble late in the regular season, allowed a Sam Blancato double and walked JP Tighe before leaving the game with two out in the fifth after 69 pitches and two trips through the order.
Troy reliever Grayson Stewart got a ground ball to short, but Jesse Hall couldn’t come up with the ball and Blancato scored on the error. That 1-0 score stood up until Georgia Southern broke through against Trojans closer Marquez Oates in the eighth.
Oates walked Noah Ledford with one out, then Austin Thompson doubled off the right field wall. Jarrett Brown followed with a two-run single to left-center, scoring both runners and making it 3-0.
Troy's Marquez Oates throws a pitch vs. Georgia Southern during a Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament semifinal game at Montgomery's Riverwalk Stadium on Saturday. Georgia Southern won the game 8-0. (AJ Henderson/Sun Belt Conference)
One out later, Parker Biederer doubled into the left-field corner to extend the Eagles’ lead to 4-0 and chase Oates from the game. Tighe followed with an RBI single off Keaton Fuller and Georgia Southern led by five.
After Johnson set Troy down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth, Georgia Southern added three more in the ninth on Brown’s RBI single and Blancato’s long two-run homer to right. The Trojans loaded the bases with two out in the ninth, but Trey Leonard lined out to center to end the game.
“Gainous was really good today, we were trying to make him work, make him work, and we were able to finally get him out of the ball game and get into the bullpen,” Georgia Southern coach Rodney Hennon said. “Oates was effective early against us, I thought we made good adjustments against him the more we saw him, and just finally got to him.
“I thought (Jarrett Brown) coming up there in that situation, second and third — he actually came up in that situation yesterday and popped up — so he came back up today and delivered with a big hit there. And then tacking on a couple more with two outs was huge. It was one of those games where a three-run lead felt like a six-run lead today, the way both teams were pitching most of the game.”
Troy’s best scoring opportunities before the ninth inning came in the first and the fourth. Hall and Kyle Mock opened the first with back-to-back singles before Harris struck out the next three hitters — two of them looking — to end the threat.
In the fourth, William Sullivan doubled to lead off the inning and Clay Stearns beat out an infield single. Easton Kirk then hit a rocket right at Georgia Southern second baseman Jesse Sherrill, who doubled off Sullivan at second.
Johnson came on at that point and retired Donovan Whibbs on a fly ball to center to end the inning. The Trojans didn’t get another runner past first until the ninth, when they trailed by eight runs.
Johnson (5-3) picked up the win in relief, allowing just three hits and one walk with two strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. He threw only 63 pitches to get 16 outs.
“That’s a testament to our defense,” Johnson said. “... Five and a third and only two strikeouts, that just shows you all the pitchers are confident in our defense. We know if we just get in there and fill (the strike zone) up, good things are going to happen. Just getting ahead, fast ball command, being able to get ahead, and when you don’t get ahead get back in the count with good pitches.”
Troy has not won the Sun Belt tournament championship since 2006, but showed signs of improvement in Meade’s first season. Pitching injuries down the stretch cost the Trojans, who lost seven of their final nine regular-season conference games to finish sixth in the 12-team Sun Belt Conference.
Troy knocked off third-seeded Coastal Carolina 6-4 on Friday to advance to the semifinals before bowing out of the tournament against Georgia Southern. Only three members of Saturday’s starting lineup are listed as seniors, meaning the majority of the Trojans’ team is eligible to return in 2023.
“I told our team this, I appreciate all the effort that they’ve given,” said Meade, the pitching coach at South Carolina for four years before taking over at Troy this season. “They’re a really good group of kids. I know people say that and it comes off as cliché, but we have really good kids, we have minimal issues. I think the six seniors are always going to hold a special place for you, your first go around as a head coach.
“Our young guys, there’s a lot of things to learn and things we’re going to improve upon. This will not be the finality of our seasons from here on out. This is not going to be a program where everybody says ‘good job, good try,’ we’re here to win championships and we will in the very near future.”