Troy Wins 2-1

[troypikap]

Troy wins in the bottom of the ninth with an RBI double scoring our catcher all the way from first.

[Hector]

A gutsy performance by the Trojans. Went into the ninth inning with a no hitter, which was broken up by a questionable ruling by the umpire. This will help our ranking for an at large bid. (Of course, we won't be needing that, because we will win the conference tourney.) :wink:

[faithintsu]

TROY, Ala. – Troy catcher Henry Gutierrez has been known for his home runs and RBI this season, but on Tuesday night against South Alabama he got a chance in the ninth inning to show off his speed as the Trojans took a 2-1 victory.

Gutierrez, who was hitless in three at bats with a pair of strikeouts against USA starter P.J. Walters (8-6), but legged out an infield hit to open the ninth inning. Walters then went to work on Troy’s Nick Smith, who was also hitless in three at bats.


After starting Smith off with a fastball away, Walters delivered the pitch that had gotten Smith out all night, a change up. Smith wasn’t fooled and lashed the pitch to the wall in center, scoring Gutierrez with the winning run all the way from first.

"I was a little surprised that they even pitched to Henry to start the inning," Troy coach Bobby Pierce said. "Once he got on, I knew they were going go after Nick with the change-up because they had gotten him out with it all night. Nick is a very good hitter, and he made an adjustment that paid off for us."

The victory, Troy’s second walk-off victory in three games, improved the Trojans to 32-16 on the year. South Alabama falls to 30-21.

Even with the ninth inning heroics, the story of the night for Troy was junior left-hander Jon Gianquitti. The North Palm Beach, Fla., native made his first start for the Trojans, and made it a memorable one.

Gianquitti did not allow the Jaguars, who had 16 hits in the first game against Troy, to get a single hit through the first seven innings. USA finally broke through in the eighth with a double by Ben Froemming that bounced just over the bag at third.

"I wasn’t really worried about the no-hitter, I was just focused on making good pitches and getting outs," Gianquitti said. "This was a big game for us and it was a big opportunity for me to be able to help the team."

With the no-hitter gone, Gianquitti appeared to get out of the inning with a strikeout of pinch-hitter Michael Cart, his 10th of the night, and a fly ball to left off the bat of Josh Morgan. That fly ball turned into a nightmare for the Trojans, as left-fielder Blake Green lost the ball in the lights. The double allowed Froemming to score from second, knotting the game at 1-1 and ending the night for Gianquitti.

"That was a very tough way to lose the no-hitter, on a ball that we thought was foul," Pierce said. "Jon did a good job of coming right back and making the pitches to get out of the inning, he just had a couple of bad breaks go against him."

Troy freshman Pete Van Horn (3-2) came on to get Troy out of the inning with a strikeout of Jags’ cleanup hitter Aaron George. Van Horn then put USA down in order in the ninth, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.

Gianquittti’s effort, combined with Tony Falls’ four innings of no-hit pitching on Sunday against UCF, gave the Trojans a combined 11 1/3 innings of no-hit pitching over two days. Gianquitti walked five and struck out 10 in the outing.

The Trojans got their only run on a home run in the third inning off the bat of an unlikely hitter, Adam Godwin. The speedster also stole two bases in the game, running his national best total to 71 and snapping a streak of six games without a stolen base.

Godwin and Brian Bennett finished with two hits each to lead Troy. South Alabama managed just two hits in the game. The Trojans also improved to 9-1 in one-run games for the season.

Troy will close out the home portion of the 2005 schedule this weekend with an important three-game Atlantic Sun Conference series against Stetson. Troy enters the weekend needing any combination of three league wins or three league losses by UCF to clinch the league title.

Friday’s game at Riddle-Pace Field is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start.