Troy baseball survives another crazy 9th inning to beat Southern Miss in Sun Belt tournament

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The Troy baseball team is living on the edge at the Sun Belt tournament, and they are thriving in the chaos. In another nail-biting finish, the No. 4 seed Trojans secured a 9-6 victory over top-seeded Southern Miss at Dabos Park in Montgomery, keeping their championship hopes alive.

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A Marathon Path to Sunday

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It was a grueling Saturday for the Trojans (32-28), who played twice to keep their season moving. After blank\">holding off South Alabama 12-11 in a morning thriller, Troy avenged a blank\">heartbreaking loss to the Golden Eagles (42-16) from Friday night. The win sets up an \"if-necessary\" rematch on Sunday at 9 a.m., with the winner advancing to face No. 7 seed Louisiana in the 1 p.m. championship game.

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Saturday’s victory was punctuated by a two-hour rain delay and another shaky ninth inning. Troy has now allowed 15 runs in the final frame over their last three contests, yet they have managed to emerge victorious in two of them.

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Culture and Grit

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Troy head coach Skylar Meade praised his team’s resilience following their dramatic turnaround from Friday's walk-off loss. \"I don’t know if there could be another team in the country to bounce back after what we went through last night,\" Meade said. \"If you have no understanding of what our culture is, then you have no idea what the word ‘culture’ means.\""

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The offense fueled the win with 13 hits. Josh Pyne ignited the scoreboard with a two-run homer in the sixth, while Aaron Piasecki delivered a massive three-run triple in the seventh to extend the lead to 8-2. Further production came from Blake Cavill, Jimmy Janicki, Drew Nelson, and Sean Darnell.

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Senior left-hander Zach Crotchfelt (5-2) turned in a gutsy performance on short rest. After blank\">working four innings in relief against South Alabama just days earlier, he tossed five strong innings against the Golden Eagles, allowing only one run on five hits with eight strikeouts.

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Closing the Door

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The ninth inning proved tense once again as Southern Miss surged for five runs. With the bases loaded and the lead cut to 9-6, Tommy Egan stepped in and struck out Davis Gillespie on a 3-2 pitch to earn his first save of the season and seal the victory.

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With an NCAA Regional berth potentially on the line, the Trojans have improved their standing, currently blank\">ranked No. 34 in the RPI. As 205focus.com readers know, the path to the postseason remains challenging, but this gritty Troy squad seems perfectly comfortable operating in high-pressure situations.

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