FINAL STATS

TROY – Logan Pierce had four hits and drove in three runs to lead Troy to a 15-7 win over Jacksonville State at Riddle-Pace Field on Tuesday.
 
Garrett McHenry (1-0) allowed just one hit over three innings to earn his first win of the season for the Trojans. JSU's Cody Ponder (0-2) gave up two runs to suffer the loss for the Gamecocks.
 
The Trojans (14-18) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning after Danny Collins drove in a pair of runs with a triple and then scored on a sacrifice fly, but the Gamecocks (12-19) answered in the top of the second inning.
 
Cal Lambert drew a bases loaded walk to score Ben Waldrip, then Kyle Bluestein scored on a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 3-2. Michael Bishop followed with a safety squeeze to score Erik Underwood and tie the game at 3-3.
 
Troy took the lead for good in the home half of the third inning after Jakob Nixon scored on a RBI single by Tyler Hannah and Danny Collins hit a sacrifice fly to give the Trojans a 5-3 lead.
 
Troy went on to score two runs in each of the next four innings to jump out to a 13-3 lead, before Bluestein led off the eighth inning with a solo home run to extend his hitting streak to a career-long 14 games and cut the lead to 13-4..
 
The Trojans added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take a 15-4 lead, but the Gamecocks plated three runs in the ninth inning as Adam Miller and Underwood each drove in a run and Waldrip scored on a Troy error for the final margin.
 
Jax State had eight players each finish with a hit, as Erik Underwood extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single in the ninth inning. Nixon had three hits, while Hannah, Collins and Harrell each added a pair of hits for the Trojans.
 
Jacksonville State returns to action with a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series at UT Martin this weekend. Friday's game is set for 4 p.m. and Saturday will start at 2 p.m. before Sunday's series-finale is scheduled for 1 p.m.