Box Score
TROY. Ala. – The New Orleans Privateers baseball team (4-9) were handcuffed late in the game and gave up a lead acquired after six innings in a 3-2 loss to the Troy Trojans on Sunday afternoon at Riddle-Pace Field.
New Orleans sent the heart of the order to the plate in the ninth.
Morgan Barger led off pinch hitting for
Hezekiah Randolph, and grounded out to second. After
Reese Kanter struck out swinging on a full count pitch,
Nick Morgan bounced out to short against Trojans reliever William Shell.
Shell pitched the final three frames and did not allow a base runner. Shell struck out three Privateers in his time on the mound and picked up his first win of the season.
Raymond Winter took the loss and drops to 0-3 on the season.
Winter was called out of the bullpen with a 2-1 lead in the seventh and a runner on second after Clay Holcomb led off the frame with a line drive double to left. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runner to third, Justin Hancock hit an RBI single to tie the game. The Trojans took the lead on an RBI single by Garrett Pitts.
Troy struck first against starter
Nick Halliday in the opening frame. After Halliday struck out the first two batters, Trevin Hall jumped on a 3-1 pitch and cleared it over the left field fence for a home run to give the Trojans an early 1-0 lead.
The Privateers got their first lead off the first big threat in the sixth inning. After
Samuel Capielano led off with a single back up the middle, he was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Kanter hit a sharp single to right to put runners on the corners. The Trojans called on Will Starling out of the bullpen to try to finish off the frame.
Starling threw a wild pitch with
Nick Morgan at the plate that scored Capielano to tie the game. Morgan later singled to center in the at-bat for his first RBI of the season, and drove in Kanter from second to give the Privateers a 2-1 lead.
The Privateers wound up with just five hits on the afternoon. Morgan collected two of those hits and drove in his first run of the season. Four of the five Privateers hits on the day came from the 3-4-5 hitters in the order.
New Orleans will take the field again on Tuesday night against Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m.
