A clutch ninth-inning, bases loaded strike out by Cory Gill helped the Troy Trojans secure a 9-7 win over conference rival Appalachian State on Friday.

Grant Bennett started on the mound for the Trojans. The senior pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, and struck out four.

The Trojans (18-13, 4-6) finished with 15 hits on night led by Cameron Sanders, Brandon Lockridge and TJ Binder who all had three hits. Justin Friend finished with two hits and four RBIs.

Bennett ran into a little bit of trouble in the top half of the second inning. The Mountaineers had runners on third and first with nobody out, but Bennett got back-to-back strikeouts followed by a groundout to short to get out of the inning unscathed.

The Trojan offense got back in the dugout and scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the third inning. Lockridge and Binder began the inning with back-to-back to singles. After a strikeout by Brody Binder, Bert Givens smacked a double, driving in Lockridge to bring the score to 1-0.

Mountaineers pitcher Bobby Hampton ran into a bit of trouble in the bottom of the fourth. Hampton hit two batters in the inning and the Trojans and threw a wild pitch and the Trojans tacked on another run when Binder scored during a throwing error.

Sanders and Lockridge began the fifth inning with a pair of singles, followed by a throwing error by and another hit batter. Friend came up with the bases loaded and cleared the bases on a shot off the wall in straight away center field to give the Trojans a 6-0 lead.

Bennett ran into trouble in the sixth inning. He let up three runs on four hits and he was lifted for Marc Skinner. The Trojans got out of the inning from there and took a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the sixth.

The Mountaineers refused to quit, adding two more runs in the eighth inning when Tyler Stroup hit a homer over the wall in right field.

The Trojans responded and answered in the bottom of the eighth with three hits, including doubles by Binder and Friend. he Trojans took a 9-5 lead into the ninth.

The Trojans walked four batters in ninth inning and it was strikeout that preserved the win.

The Trojans will continue their series with the Mountaineers on Saturday at 1 p.m. and conclude on Sunday at 1 p.m.