Troy University’s baseball team lost its season opener to Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, after a walk-off home run by Mercer’s Chris Katz in the bottom of the ninth inning secured a 4-3 victory for the Bears.
The game was closely contested, with both teams displaying strong pitching. Troy had an opportunity to take the lead in the top of the ninth when Jimmy Janicki drew a two-out walk to load the bases. However, Mercer reliever Collin Ewaldsen ended the threat by striking out Steven Meier, who had walked three times earlier in the game.
In the bottom of the ninth, Troy’s senior left-hander Zach Crotchfelt struck out Logan Shepherd before Katz hit a fly ball over the right field wall to end the game.
Troy’s pitching staff combined for 12 strikeouts and three walks while allowing seven hits. Tommy Egan, making his debut after transferring from UIC, started for Troy and pitched five innings, giving up two runs on three hits and one walk. He recorded six strikeouts—one short of his career high—and kept Mercer scoreless after allowing two runs in the first inning.
Blake Dean pitched an inning in relief with two strikeouts and allowed one run in the sixth. Cooper Ellingworth struck out three batters across two innings, stranding runners in both frames.
Offensively, Troy managed five hits and eight walks. Drew Nelson led the Trojans with an RBI groundout in the fourth inning and a single that drove in another run during a sixth-inning rally. Nelson played right field for the first time in his career and matched his career high with two RBIs.
Other notable performances included Aaron Piasecki going 1-for-3 with two walks in his Troy debut; Blake Cavill’s streak of reaching base ended at 65 games; Steven Meier tied his career high with three walks; Jimmy Janicki achieved his first three-walk game; Sean Darnell extended his hitting streak to nine games dating back to last season; and Drew Nelson went 1-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch.
Head Coach Skylar Meade commented on the outcome: “The box score can be cruel sometimes. You look at strike percentage. You look at some of the situations. They obviously had the impactful hit there after not hitting a lot of ball hard but had the one in the ninth that obviously ended it. Kudos to that kid. Zach Crotchfelt will be out there a lot because he’s a winner. We love what he does and we certainly liked what we saw from the pitchers.”
Troy will conclude its series against Mercer with a double-header starting at 1 p.m. CT.
