Baseball
The Troy University baseball team won two Division II national championships in 1986 and 1987 under the leadership of baseball coach, Chase Riddle. One of Troy's most significant victories in baseball came in April 1998 when the Trojans knocked off the #3 nationally-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide by a score of 8-4 at Riddle-Pace Field on the Troy campus.
In 2006, Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year Bobby Pierce led the Trojans to a regular season conference title, conference tournament title, and an NCAA Regional appearance with an overall record of 47–16. The Men of Troy were the 2-seed in the Tuscaloosa Regional in 2006, defeating the Southern Miss Golden Eagles twice, but were eliminated by the Alabama Crimson Tide in the championship game. Following the season, Jared Keel, Mike Felix, and Tom King were selected in the MLB draft. Troy's highest rank of the season was #29 by the NCBWA.
In 2007 the Trojans went 34–27, finishing in a tie for second in the Sun Belt Conference, and were selected as a number three seed in the Oxford Regional hosted by Ole Miss. The Trojans were defeated by Southern Miss and Sam Houston State in consecutive games and eliminated from the regional.
In 2011, the Trojans struck again by winning the Sun Belt regular season title and earning a bid to the Nashville Regional as a 3-seed. The Trojans defeated 2-seed Oklahoma State in the first round, but fell to 1-seed Vanderbilt and Belmont consecutively. The Trojans ended the 2011 season with a 42-17 record. Troy's highest rank of the season was #18 in the Baseball America poll. Troy had also reached a ranking of #25 in the USA Today coaches poll and #22 in the College Baseball News poll.
Troy would once against win a regular season title in 2013, this time in a thrilling fashion. The Trojans played #18 South Alabama during the last series of the regular season. After losing the first game of the series, the Trojans would go on to win the next two games and clinch a share of the Sun Belt title. They would finish the regular season with a 39-16 record. Troy's highest rank of the season is #21 in the College Baseball News poll. Troy is also ranked #22 Perfect Game, #23 by Baseball America poll, and #30 by the NCBWA.
The Trojan baseball team plays their home games at Riddle-Pace Field.
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Famous quotes containing the word baseball:
“The talk shows are stuffed full of sufferers who have regained their health—congressmen who suffered through a serious spell of boozing and skirt-chasing, White House aides who were stricken cruelly with overweening ambition, movie stars and baseball players who came down with acute cases of wanting to trash hotel rooms while under the influence of recreational drugs. Most of them have found God, or at least a publisher.”
—Calvin Trillin (b. 1935)
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—Darlene Mehrer, As quoted in Women in Baseball. Ch. 6, by Gai Ingham Berlage (1994)
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—Thomas Boswell, U.S. sports journalist. “The Church of Baseball,” Baseball: An Illustrated History, ed. Geoffrey C. Ward, Knopf (1994)