Is This a Dream? No, It’s Omaha.
Not since the days of Homer have the walls of Troy been so thoroughly surrounded. Last weekend fans of both Trojan contingents filled the park to see a chance at tasting history for Troy or Little Rock.
2500 seats in Riddle-Pace Field, the extra 700 seats added to the stadium, the southwest corner of The Vet, and all the assorted lawn chairs were packed for the 2026 Troy Super Regional. Walking through Doubles Alley one could’ve been forgiven for thinking the huge crowd in Tailgate Terrace was there for a football game rather than June baseball.
2026 marks only the seventh time Troy has ever played baseball in June (the others being 2006, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2018, and 2023).
Challenges abounded for the Troy Trojans all season, as they struggled against the eighth most difficult schedule in the country. Bolstering that number was the hardest non-conference schedule in the nation. The Trojans, however, put themselves in position to make a run for the Sun Belt Tournament title.
Troy broke .500 for the first time all season with a win over UAB on May 12. With just three games remaining, the Trojans won the series over ULM and earned the fourth seed in the conference tournament.
Heartbreak in the form of Southern Miss nearly ended that championship dream. Despite leading 6-3, with USM down to its final out, Drey Barrett walked the Golden Eagles off with a grand slam, knocking Troy into the losers’ bracket.
Hours later, Troy fought through South Alabama and got revenge on Southern Miss to force an if-necessary game in the semifinals. USM took the third matchup, but thankfully, that didn’t spell the end of the season.
Troy ultimately did enough to get into an NCAA Regional.
The Trojans were one of the last four teams in the NCAA Tournament, sent to the Gainesville Regional to face host Florida, Miami (FL), and Rider University from New Jersey. In game one against 2 seed Miami, Troy fought back from a 5-3 hole and tied the game in the top of the 8th, but Miami unleashed the bats, winning 10-5.
That moved Troy to the losers bracket where Rider awaited. Rider pushed Florida to extras before falling 8-7 on a Gator walkoff.
Troy’s bats came to life against Rider, closing out the Broncs 15-7 and propelling the Trojans into another matchup with Miami. Again, Miami had Troy down 6-3, when the Trojans got hot.
Houston Markham, Josh Pyne, and Jabe Boroff twice hit home runs to give Troy a 9-6 win and send Troy into a Regional Championship with Florida. For the Gators, it was too late.
Troy beat them twice by a 26-13 margin.
The Trojans made history, and the final blow wasn’t close.
In the other half of the bracket, 4-seed Little Rock swept its way through the Hattiesburg Regional, eliminating Southern Miss, Jacksonville State, and Virginia. Because the lower seed won the other bracket, the Alabama Trojans would not only play in a Super Regional for the first time, they would host it.
For fans, if the stress of the Gainesville Regional wasn’t enough, ordering tickets for the Super Regional would be. On Tuesday, June 2nd, reserved Super Regional tickets were opened to 2026 season ticket holders, as well as anyone willing and able to put down a deposit on 2027 season tickets.
They all sold out that day. The following day, general admission tickets would be available to the general public at 9 am.
Tickets were gone within 10 minutes. The influx of site visitors caused issues for both Paciolan, Troy’s ticketing system, and Heartland Payment Systems, which handles Troy’s credit card transactions, effectively crashing the site.
Athletic Director Kyle George stepped up, opening up the site for more tickets and bringing in two bleachers from Gulf Shores to seat 600 Trojans in Doubles Alley. He even gave 100 students the opportunity to sit in a special bleacher set up between the Little Rock bullpen and dugout.
In addition to the bleachers, fans were able to watch four different screens at Tailgate Terrace. Veterans Memorial Stadium was opened, and the game was played on both screens there.
Veterans Memorial Stadium “hosting” baseball was its own historic turnabout, since the football team once played at Pace Field.
Regardless of the struggles by team or by fan, Trojan faithful, in the correct shade of cardinal, showed up en masse to witness history. The stands were tightly packed in game one with fans clamoring and an excitement that only sports can produce.
Fan began to push towards their seats both in RPF and in Doubles Alley as the teams stood for the National Anthem. A flyover punctuated the pure Americana of the moment.
During the first inning, the crowd came alive as the Mayor of Riddle-Pace Field, Ryan McCollough, led the roll call, a series of chants for each player that continues until the player acknowledges the crowd. This seemed to ignite a spark of nervous energy that reverberated within the record crowds on both days.
Whether in the stands of RPF, the 100 student seats near the bullpen, or in the heavily expanded Doubles Alley, Troy fans and alumni lived and died with every ball, strike, hit, or putout in a way I’ve only ever seen a few times in my 25 years of being a Trojan.
The crowd did the two-strike clap every time in a way that surely made Coach Skylar Meade proud. Members of the football coaching staff appeared in front of the seated Trojan faithful in Riddle-Pace and led them in cheers.
Much like the song that is often played at Troy sporting events, it was a party.
Even with a 4 o’clock first pitch, Troy, along with roughly 600 Little Rock fans, shattered the attendance record set at the Alabama game earlier in the season (3,982). For game 1, the total attendance was counted at 6,426.
That total was probably 150-200, if not more, higher if you include fans who sat outside of the partition around Tailgate Terrace and even the clever few who sat just to the right of The Trojan Wall at the bullpen fence.
AD George opened up more tickets and expanded the capacity of Tailgate Terrace for game 2 to ensure the record would be broken.
The Saturday total was 7,033. In Doubles Alley, chairs stretched from the fence to the bleachers. Behind those, at the video screens, stretched another 15-20 rows of chairs. Somewhere north of 150-200 people took up their place in The Vet either to watch the action in the park, if they were lucky enough to get a seat at the top of the bleachers or on the two large video screens.
The variety of the assembled Trojans was made up of diehard baseball fans who spend the first six months of the year either inside Riddle-Pace or in Doubles Alley. Others, like myself, make a game when they can, but often follow from home. Others still have possibly never set foot in RPF for a game.
Some traveled from within the Wiregrass to make it to the game. Others more akin to Homer’s Odyssey traveled from far and wide for one purpose: Omaha.
Destiny made it clear the home team was taking the next step. If you were somehow living under a rock, Troy swept Little Rock, 12-2 and 7-2.
Drew Nelson
In both games, the Troy, Alabama product drove in the first runs of the game. In the bottom of the second in game 1, Nelson hit a ball off the scoreboard, which turned into a RBI triple.
In game 2, the scoring started early, when Nelson drove in 2 with a double down the left field line. His 3 RBIs put Troy ahead early in each game and allowed them to make Little Rock play from behind.
Jabe Boroff
Jabe Boroff might be the most clutch postseason player Troy has had since Ted Clem. After an explosive performance in the Gainesville Regional, Boroff made sure Troy would not be swept. Personally, I think he wanted to make sure Doubles Alley had some souvenirs.
In the 6th, he hit a towering 394 foot shot to deep left field, extending the Troy lead to 8-2. Later in the 8th, he delivered one of the most surreal and wonderful experiences I have had as a Trojan.
Steven Meier had a lead off single. Drew Nelson singled and pushed Meier to third. Nelson stole second and Sean Darnell took a walk to load the bases.
Then Jabe Ruth showed up.
With the bases full, Boroff went into a 1-2 hole. A timeout was called, and Boroff went back into the batter’s box. After a timeout, the entire crowd began to rise. It seemed like everyone expected an instance of greatness.
I daresay that it was the first time I ever felt I was about to experience a “Moment.” Jabe delivered on the wish of every Troy Trojan in attendance, watching the telecast, or listening to Barry and Jerry.
He sent the ball screaming out to Doubles Alley again, this time only a measly 392 feet. The crowd bubbled over with elation, voices screaming to the skies, high fives all around.
The common denominator of both Jabe Boroff home runs? Just before each home run, he had a conversation with the Wizard of RPF, Ben Wolgamot.
Houston Markham
Defensively, Troy doesn’t win this series, much less sweep Little Rock without the defensive play of Houston Markham. Markham made at least three insane catches that no one in the ball park would have faulted him for missing.
My favorite was the catch at the end of game 1. Markham drew a bead on the ball and caught it, right as he collided with the right field wall.
Houston made the grab, securing the second out in the top of the 9th. Then, still sitting on his backside, he threw the ball to first, getting the doubled-up lead runner who must’ve thought there was no way Markham made the catch.
Trojan Nation
A lot was said about Troy’s lack of attendance at the Sun Belt Tournament in Montgomery. Coincidentally, none of those talking were playing in Super Regionals.
The way that Trojan Nation came together to make this the biggest game in Troy, Alabama was extremely heartening to see. Coach Meade gave the Friday crowd an A for how they showed up, insisting there was room for improvement. The Saturday crowd earned their A+.
In total, the 13,459 attendees helped to push Troy into history.
Skylar Meade
In most smaller schools, coaches get hired and talk about winning national championships, because that’s way more exciting than a D-tier bowl games or beating a rival.
It’s much more exciting when a coach with a vision gets hired in a place that shares that vision. When then-AD Brent Jones hired Skylar Meade in 2021, the expectation was always Omaha, even as they put a “Troy >>>>Omaha” sign in the renovated Riddle-Pace.
I’m personally still in disbelief he was able to take any team, much less a team with this record, to the Men’s College World Series. Now, Troy is one of the final 8 teams with a shot at a National Championship.
As Trojan Nation readies themselves around a TV (likely with the volume muted to better hear Barry and Jerry), Troy will face off against the Mountaineers of West Virginia and take its first steps toward unheralded glory: a Division I National Championship.