Skylar’s the Limit: 2022 Troy Baseball Recap
Almost a year ago, the Troy baseball team met its 15th head coach: Skylar Meade. The Louisville grad brought high hopes, high energy and a completely new perspective on the program.
His first season was expected to be a rebuilding year, between the lackluster result of 2021 and the growing pains from a new regime establishing itself. From that perspective, the 2022 Trojans excelled.
The Trojans swept three teams: ULM, Georgia State and the eventual conference tournament champion Louisiana (the first time Troy ever swept the Cajuns). More fans came to Riddle-Pace Field than ever before, and the Trojans shocked a postseason-bound Coastal Carolina team with a ninth-inning rally.
Even from a historical perspective, Meade’s first season ended as well as it could have. The 2022 Trojans had the third-best record among all modern coaches in their first year, trailing only John Mayotte and the legend himself, Chase Riddle.
You’ll notice Meade tied Smartt for third-most wins in a first season, too, but the total difference in number of wins between the top four is miniscule. You could point to the win percentage as the deciding factor, or you could take into account the increased number of games and level of competition.
Either way, it’s safe to say Troy’s season was more of a success than we expected.
Most importantly, Meade’s Trojans accomplished something none of the other coaches on that list ever did: winning a conference tournament game in his first year.
Older fans remember Riddle left the cupboards full for Mayotte, but Mayotte didn’t quite return the favor for Bobby Pierce. This year’s situation is somewhere in the middle.
Troy lost several COVID-19 super seniors to graduation, veteran experience from the 2018 regional run. Filling that void were transfers, like Trey Leonard, Brandon Schrepf and Logan Ross.
The reloaded team upset Coastal in the tournament, swept Indiana and beat Georgia Tech (No. 21 in RPI as of press time.) The team also carved out places in the Troy record books… for better or for worse.
- Most doubles in a career (Rigsby Mosley, 60)
- Tie-most balks in a season (Kyle Gamble, 6)
- 2nd most saves in a season (16)
- 2nd most hit by pitch in a season (Jesse Hall, 18)
- 4th most strikeouts in a season (520)
- 4th most saves by a pitcher in a career (Marquez Oates, 15)
- 5th most total bases in a career (Rigsby Mosley, 380)
- T5th most hit by pitch in a season (William Sullivan, 16)
- T6th most triples in a season (Donovan Whibbs, 5)
It’s clear the pitching has taken a step up, which is of course Meade’s background. Troy’s offensive power didn’t lose any ground, either. For the first time since 2010, Troy hit two first-pitch homers in a season… just three days apart.
Ignore the fact that they both came in losses, when the previous four led to victories. One of those games was against Southland Conference Champion Southeast Louisiana, who’s playing Auburn, another Troy opponent, in a regional this weekend.
In all, Troy played 20 games against teams that ended up in the postseason, and went 9-11.
For that effort, the Trojans finished the season #99 in the RPI, up from #135 the year before.
Part of that growth came from the conference itself. The Sun Belt has four teams in the postseason, the most in conference history, after just one team last year.
It went from 10th in conference RPI to 5th this year… incidentally the same ranking in number of postseason teams this year.
If you include Southern Miss and Old Dominion (who join July 1) that’s two hosted regionals and NINE teams in the top 100 of the RPI.
The Sun Belt will become one of college baseball’s best conferences once the academic year ends. It’s definitely a valid point to say that Troy is playing better competition than it has ever faced.
Fortunately, if this season can tell us anything about the direction this team is headed, the Trojans may be filling up the trophy cabinet soon.