Thursday, May 21, 2009

Marianna Trio Excel

By Clint Cox
Three former Marianna baseball standouts were in the news this past week for their accomplishments on the baseball diamond.
Troy University senior second baseman Trevor Tyre was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week last Monday for his performance in the Trojans weekend sweep of ULM. Tyre led Troy to the sweep of the Warhawks by hitting .538 (7-13) with a double, two homers and six RBI. The senior opened the weekend with a 3-5 effort on Friday that included an RBI double in the first and a solo home run in the fourth. He followed that on Saturday with another 3-5 effort that included two RBI. On Sunday he had one hit, a two run homer, but was also walked and hit by a pitch.
Tyre, who was a CoSIDA Academic All American nominee and was named Troy University’s 2008-09 Male Athlete of the Year had a .600 on base percentage and a 1.077 slugging percentage and was flawless in the field during the weekend series. Over the last 21 games Tyre has raised his batting average 116 points to .306 and now leads the team with 10 home runs on the season.
Tyre graduated from Marianna in 2005 and played baseball at Chipola where he graduated in 2006. He is the son of Don and Marlean Tyre.
Troy University relief pitcher Josh Storm recorded the final three outs in a 4-2 win over Kennesaw State last Tuesday night to record his sixth save of the season and more importantly set a new Troy career saves mark. The save was his 18th of his career as a Trojan, breaking a tie for Josh Drew for the career record. "I’m very proud of Josh," Troy Head Baseball Coach Bobby Pierce (also a former Marianna Bulldog standout athlete) said. "To set not only our season record for saves, which he did last year, but to set the career record for saves is quite a feat. He did it with a lot of guts and determination. I could not think of a better kid," said Pierce.
Storm, who has struggled this year, especially after suffering an early season injury to his pitching hand, was happy to get the record at home. "It’s been a long year for me and it’s just good to get the opportunity to get it done in front of the home crowd," Storm said. "I feel like I’m getting closer to where I was last year and am working hard to get ready for the tournament." Storm is a 2005 graduate of Marianna and a 2007 graduate of Chipola. He is the son of Rick Storm and Karla Sapp.
Los Angeles catcher Jeff Mathis stroked a game winning walk off a RBI single in the bottom of the 12th inning to give the Angels a 5-4 win over Boston last Thursday evening. Mathis sent a shot into left center to score pinch runner Reggie Willits from second. Mathis went 2-4 in the game with 2 RBI and a run scored. He upped his average to .283 with that performance but his last two outings against the Texas Rangers have been rough on "Pup" and as of Tuesday his average was at .259. In his last 10 games Mathis has gone 8-32 with 9 RBI. He is a 2001 graduate of Marianna and is the son of Danny and Bunnee Mathis.

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