Super Bowl Update

Troy falls 8-1 in the rubber game at Southern Miss. Trojans didn't get good starting pitching and made a couple of key errors, but with outstanding starting pitching, getting just 3 hits isn't going to win most nights.

Troy is now 3-3, but scored just four runs in the three games. I get the feeling Bobby Pierce will some things to think about for the Tuesday home game against Samford.

Full recap HERE and box score HERE.

Some things to look at for why Troy is only 3-3
**Adam Purdy couldn't make it past one inning in his second straight Sunday start. Pierce alluded to another pitcher getting a chance next Sunday.
**Danny Collins has five errors in six games at third. Tyler Hannah had five errors the entire season playing third last year and he's at short. But Collins is Troy's leading hitter at .360, and he can swing it so he needs to be in the lineup, but is it at third or DH?
**Troy only has two regular hitters hitting .300 or better - Collins and Logan Pierce (.300). You have Hannah (.278 and 9 strikeouts), Boone Shear (.200) and Josh McDorman (.188 and 7 strikeouts) as returning players who coaches need to step up at the plate. Remember, though, it's still early. Clay Holcomb, a redshirt freshman, is hitting .308 after a solid weekend but he needs a few more at-bats to qualify for Sun Belt/NCAA leader categories
**Troy's two catchers are hitting a combined 1-for-21. Brandon Brown is 1-for-18 (.056) and Jake Harrell is 0-for-3 with three Ks. He didn't practice in the fall because of a finger injury. The other guy who could catch, Blake Martz, didn't play at all against USM for whatever reason (he hit 1-for-9 last weekend).

The full stats are HERE.

Mound positives
**Ace Tyler Ray is 2-0 with an 0.69 ERA.
**Saturday starter Jimmy Hodgskin is now 0-1 with a 4.76 ERA, but he pitched pretty well on Saturday, holding USM to just four hits in seven innings. I think he's on the road to a pretty good season but he needed some run support.
**Nate Hill and Tyson Workman have been good, but some other guys in middle relief pitched well in their opportunities. Thomas Austin, Cass Abercrombie, Jeremy McGowan and Joe Hernandez pitched well in limited opportunities, and they'll surely have more going forward.

The great thing about baseball? Troy still has roughly 50 games left and even 2 weeks from now, you could be talking about how the hitting has turned around and several guys are on hot streaks. You'll see many guys turn things around as the season goes on and some hot hitters dip into slumps.