Troy heading to College World Series after sweeping Arkansas-Little Rock

The Troy Trojans are heading to the College World Series for the first time in history – Photo from Troy University

TROY, Ala. (WAKA) – Troy is headed to the College World Series for the first time ever.

The Trojans punched a ticket to Omaha after sweeping Little Rock in the Troy Super Regional in front of 13,459 fans across two days. Troy topped Little Rock 12-2 in game one before a 7-2 win in Saturday’s clincher behind 7.1 spectacular innings from Tommy Egan.

The senior righty punched out eight hitters while limiting Little Rock to five hits, two walks and two runs. Egan stranded runners on second and third with a strikeout looking in the second before escaping a base-loaded, one-out situation in the fourth with just one run across on a fielder’s choice.

The Chicago native cruised through the next three innings before a one-out solo homer by Jerdy Lopez ended his day in the eighth. After the homer, Egan walked back to the Troy third base dugout with a standing ovation from the record 7,033 rowdy fans in attendance at Riddle-Pace

Offensively, Troy set the tone with a two-run top of the first, the only inning that Little Rock starter Nic Bronzini would pitch. Troy native Drew Nelson came up with the bases loaded and two outs, and flared a two-run double to left field for two Trojan runs.

Troy kept its foot on the gas against a Little Rock bullpen that used four different arms. Houston Markham scored on an Aaron Piasecki sac fly after singling and reaching third on an overthrow to second on a stolen base. In the fourth, Jimmy Janicki scored on a Steven Meier single after ripping his 24th double of the year to left field.

Josh Pyne and Blake Cavill added some insurance late, with Pyne adding an RBI single in the seventh and Cavill knocking in two on a base hit in the ninth.

Righty Noah Thigpen kept Little Rock off the board in the final 1.2 innings, earning his third save of the season and second of the NCAA Tournament. After a one-out single in the ninth, Troy got two outs for the price of one with a ground ball double play to Aaron Piasecki to clinch Troy’s first trip to Omaha.

Troy is the third Sun Belt team to reach the College World Series, joining 2000 Louisiana and 2025 Coastal Carolina.

In the last two days, Troy has had two of the four most-attended games in Sun Belt history. Those games include Louisiana vs. LSU (7,583 – April 6, 1994), Troy vs. Little Rock (7,033 – June 6, 2026), Coastal Carolina vs. East Carolina (6,450 – June 1, 2025), and Troy vs. Little Rock (6,426 – June 5, 2026)

Troy will open its run in the College World Series against West Virginia on Friday. Game times will be announced at a later date.

— Information from Troy University Athletics