All Troy head coach Bobby Pierce could do Friday night was his tip his hat to Central Michigan.

Troy mustered just two hits in a 4-1 loss Friday night at Riddle-Pace Field.

Chippewa pitcher Jordan Foley allowed just two hits over eight innings, and stuck out eight Trojans to hand Troy its second loss of the season.

The two hits on the night were the fewest for Troy since the opening day of the 2012 season, a 7-3 win over Central Michigan.

Troy’s Tanner Hicks pitched well for the first three innings, giving up just one hit. However the second time threw the order proved to be more trying.

Central Michigan’s Nick Reigner walked with two outs in the fourth, and laid the groundwork for the inning that would spell disaster for the Trojans.

Reigner’s walk was followed by a single to left from Cody Leichman, a two-RBI triple off the bat of Tyler Huntey and an RBI single from Reigner’s brother, Logan.

“Tanner had a three-run inning, but I don’t think it was a result of him making poor pitches,” said Pierce. “When you make a quality pitch, and a team gets a base hit; hey, that’s a hat-tipper. In that particular inning, he had a couple of hat-tippers. When he goes out and gives you a quality start, which I think he did, I think the big credit goes to their guy on the mound.”

Troy combined for just two hits, and left six runners on base.

The Trojans had life in the seventh and eighth inning with two on and two out, but came up dry both times.

“Foley is a good as advertised in my opinion,” Pierce said. “He was tough all night, and did a great job of handcuffing us. I give them the credit. We had a couple of opportunities, but just didn’t capitalize on them.”

Troy’s lone run came on a solo homerun from Matthew Howard in the third inning.

The only other Trojan hit came from Garrett Pitts who sent a rocket double off the monster in right.

The win is Central Michigan’s first of the year, while Troy falls to 3-2.

Despite the loss, Pierce remains upbeat and is ready to get to the weekend.

“It was a good baseball game tonight, we just came up on the short end of it,” Pierce said. “If you play and coach enough you will have nights like tonight. I think the rest of the series will be interesting to see how our guys respond, and get our game working. It is a big day tomorrow for us.”