TROY, Ala. - South Alabama mounted a lead early and held on for the ride through the ninth to secure the series on a 10-8 win.
The Jags took it to Troy's starter, hitting three solo home runs in the first two innings, by Ethan Melton, Jacob Haley, and Micah Morgan.Â
South again turned the heat up in the fourth, manufacturing bases loaded with two outs. Joseph Sullivan knocked a bases-clearing double to double the score, with Brennan Holt sending Sullivan home with his own double to make it a towering 7-0 lead.
The Trojans got one on the board through a sacrifice fly, but South responded with their own sac fly in the top of the sixth.
Troy strung together a line of singles that logged five runs to threaten the Jags's lead, but South ended the inning holding the 8-6 lead.Â
A fourth home run by Holt gave the Jaguars their final two runs to set up a 10-6 lead. Troy again threatened for the win in the bottom of the ninth after scoring two and loading the bases with two outs. Leif Moore entered to log the final out, striking out his lone batter faced and earring the save.
Winning Pitcher: Cam Hill (3-1)
Save: Leif Moore (1)
Losing Pitcher: Clete Hartzog (3-2)
QUOTESÂ
Head Coach Mark Calvi
Overall thoughts: We got after their starter. We got him out early. They did a really good job matching up out of the pen. We jumped out quick, slowed down a little bit, and then we sped up a little bit so, our guys did a really nice job adjusting to some of their arms. To me, the story of the game was Cam Hill. I challenged our pitchers last week after the Georgia State series to get us deeper into games, to not leave anything in the tank, and you saw it from Swilling and you saw it from Hill. We didn't make a clean play on a lead out in the sixth, or to me, he gets us through six. I thought he had good stuff. He competed like crazy. I thought Cam Hill was the story of the game today; with a 30 mile an hour wind blowing straight out and one of the top two or three offenses in the league. Yeah, we scored some runs today and it was a team win but I thought Cam's effort today was the story of the game.
On Eric Lin's performance: Yeah, Lin was really good.Lin should get credit for a hold; and again the winds blowing out 30 miles an hour, anything can happen. I thought we had to go to him a little too early. But we did and he got us out of the jam. If I could have gone to him in the eighth, I think he would have finished that ballgame. But, thankfully we had
Leif Moore down there, an experienced guy that got the last out, but I thought
Eric Lin was huge. He got the hold. And you know we've had a little bit of a problem there in the last third, from the sixth on, and our guys handled it really well today.
On today's offense: Yeah, we played four freshmen there today. I thought they played fearlessly and you know Milan was the latest freshman to play today. But I thought those guys had been fantastic for us all year long; Haley with another home run and you know, futures bright with the young guys but we got to come out and be ready to play tomorrow because I know Troy will be.
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