MOBILE, Ala. | South Alabama won its fifth consecutive Sun Belt Conference series using a six-run third inning to pull away from Troy 9-4 at Eddie Stanky Field on Sunday afternoon.
The win marks the fourth consecutive series that the Jags have won the final game of the series to claim the weekend and marks the 13th win in 19 games for South Alabama. With the win, South Alabama (23-21, 11-10 Sun Belt) finds itself in a tie in the conference standings with Georgia State, Troy, Old Dominion, and Louisiana just one game out of fourth in the conference and two from third.
Caden Homniok (1-0), the third pitcher of the day, came out of the bullpen to work 2.2 innings and allowed just one run on two hits with three strikeouts. Meanwhile,
Colson Lawrence came on in the eighth and logged 1.2 innings of hitless relief for the Jags including a pair of strikeouts in the ninth inning.
The Jags used a six-run third inning highlighted by a two-run single from
Austin Thrasher and a three-run home run from
Micah Morgan to pull away for the win.
Will Turner led the Jags at the plate going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles (giving him 15 on the year), while Thrasher and Morgan each picked up a pair of hits.
JG Bell also added a pair of hits for the Jags in the win.
How It Happened
- (T1) William Sullivan tripled down the right field line with two outs to score Shane Lewis from first with the game's first run, Troy 1-0.
- (B1) Trey Lewis tied the game with an RBI groundout to score Erick Orbeta from third with the bases loaded to tie the game, 1-1.
- (B3) Tyler Borges reached on a fielding error at third that started a six-run inning before Thrasher hit a two-run single through the right side to extend the lead to three. Morgan delivered the big blow of the inning with a three-run home run to right, South Alabama 7-1.
- (T4) Clay Stearns doubled to right center to score a run before Kole Myers singled through the right side for the second run of the inning, South Alabama 7-3.
- (B4) Borges drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in Turner who led off the inning with a double, South Alabama 8-3.
- (B5) Bell doubled down the left field line to score Morgan from third, South Alabama 9-3.
- (T7) Lewis hit his 21st home run of the season to right to trim the deficit, South Alabama, 9-4.
Up Next
South Alabama hits the road for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series at Southern Miss beginning Friday night in Hattiesburg.
Quotable, head coach Mark Calvi
What a performance today, especially from Caden …
"Homniok was great. I said to these guys last week that for the last five weeks or so we have been playing much better, but I also said to them two weeks ago that we might one of only two teams that that at this point of year that we are trending up with health. Usually, knock on wood, teams have guys dropping from injuries. We have guys like Homniok and Willingham that have been hurt and coming back,
Jeremy Lee and
Leif Moore. There are four pitchers right there that have been good for us the last three to four weeks. Huge for us and Caden was one of those guys. Leif was one of those guys, three weeks ago we wouldn't have had
Caden Homniok helping us out today. Don't know if we win this game without him. Don't know if we win Friday without
Leif Moore. We are trending up, you can see that over the last four weeks with guys learning their roles, what to expect from me, and I have learned what to expect from them. Most importantly, they have learned to play together as a team. We have had our lumps like every team, but these guys are relentless when they practice, there is no cutting corners. If we don't get it done on the field, it's not because we didn't have a good week of practice. These kids work hard, and I am happy for any accolades they get and winning. They have stuck together through injuries, good times, and bad times. It was a great job this weekend. I thought Jeremy started the game and fought. Today was probably the worst start he has had in three weeks against the best offense with the wind blowing out, he took what he had and gutted through and got us into the fifth without his best stuff. The wind affected his pitches a lot today. I though
Diego Altamirano was fantastic behind the plate, and we played good defense. We are still leaving too many men on base, but I love to see the bottom of the order produce and the top part can drive some runs in."
Aggressiveness …
"I look at their personnel and our personnel. When they brought in Manning, he is a ground ball machine, so we had to put runners in motion. We had some guys hit singles, we had to gamble and get into scoring position,
JG Bell had the big double down the line and put the runners in motion in scored. We did that a couple of times today, stole a couple of bases, and got into scoring position. When you score nine runs on 12 hits, it sounds like I am begging, but we left a bunch of guys on base. We were a hit or two away from being able to stop that in seven. I think we cash in more than we have on offense, our pitching is starting to come around and we need to start taking advantage of our early opportunities. I think we have to get settled in early instead of jumping on the opponent. I think our guys came out and played the game the right way all weekend, and I am proud of their effort."
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