Super Bowl Update

Here's the first of 3 baseball previews to run this week. The final scrimmages are done, and the real games are waiting for us. Troy's season-opening series is this weekend (Friday at 6, Sat. doubleheader at 1, Sunday at Noon) at home vs. Central Michigan.

**Troy's top two pitchers are experienced, as Sr. RHP Tyler Ray (pictured, AP file photo vs. OSU last year) will pitch in the opener and So. LHP Jimmy Hodgskin will pitch in the second game. The challenge for Hodgskin, who is sporting a nice huge piece of ink on his right bicep (which is covered up during games) will be to flip that 3-7 record he had last year and be trusted to pitch into the 7th inning of games, where last year he mostly topped out in the 5th due to high pitch counts.

Ray and Hodgskin have a chance to be the best 1-2 pitching combination in the league, depending on Hodgskin's improvement from Year 1 to Year 2.

**Adam Purdy, a Jr. RHP who transferred in from Gulf Coast CC, will open as the Sunday starter, but this weekend that means he pitches Game 2 of the Saturday doubleheader.

"He had a little tender elbow issue in the fall, so he'll be on a lower pitch count than Ray and Hodgskin," Troy head coach Bobby Pierce said. "He's a big, strong kid."

**The fourth starter, Sunday of this week and Tuesday for most weeks, is Jr. RHP Chris Fisher, who pitched a little bit last year and is now two years past Tommy John surgery.

"At the end of fall and into spring, he was throwing pretty well," Pierce said. "He can go back and forth between starting and relief work, and he does have closer-type stuff. We're going to try to get some innings in for him early on to see where he settles in."

**Troy is also very good at the back end. Sr. RHP Tyson Workman is the team's closer in name, but Troy has always had its best teams with two closer-type guys, and that other guy is Jr. LHP Nate Hill. Both were all-conference performers. Hill will close games when Workman's resting or playing in the field, or based on matchups. Or, Hill will pitch the 8th and Workman the 9th if you want to compare it to how professional teams set things up.

**Then you move to the middle guys. The top ones are Jr. RHP Thomas Austin, an experienced guy. "He had a great fall and maybe an even better spring," Pierce said. "He's very consistent with the sinker ball and getting a lot of ground balls. He's a guy we've asked to do a lot of different roles through his career, and we'll probably ask the same of him this year."

Sr. LHP Garrett McHenry is another guy who had a strong six-week run last year early on and faded a bit late, but he's got his command back and should have a solid senior year.

Jr. RHP Joe Hernandez, a transfer from Faulkner State CC, is a guy with closer's experience, but will be a set-up type guy on this year's team.

Two more guys Pierce mentioned are Sr. LHP A.J. Howard and Jr. RHP Ryan Brady, have worked themselves into the mix. Howard is a fifth-year senior and Brady is a junior college transfer.

**Four more are on the bubble, and could work their way into more innings based on how the season goes - RFr. RHP Jeremy McGowan, Jr. RHP William Teal, Jr. RHP Cass Abercrombie and So. RHP Ivan Carter.

"They've all shown flashes of ability to pitch in the middle innings, but we want to see more consistency from them," Pierce said. "Their roles could change into starters or closers as their careers continues to develop."

**You also have two true freshmen who are playing dual roles - Hunter Skipper, a LHP/OF and Peyton Fuller, a RHP/3B. Pierce said he'd be talking to both of them more this week to see if they want to play this year or redshirt.

"These are two guys with a bright future," Pierce said. "The question mark is do you spend a year of eligibility with a limited role, or do you redshirt and get bigger and stronger?"

***Injury-wise, as I've already reported on in months past, Jr. LHPs Shane McCain (labrum) and Ryan Sorce (Tommy John) and Sr. RHP Drew Hull (re-tear of UCL after Tommy John) won't be pitching this year.