Troy Knows This Score

Steven Meier looked at the scoreboard in the fourth inning Sunday and saw 6-2. Ole Miss had just gone deep for the third time in three innings. Hunter Elliott was cruising. The Southeastern Conference was doing what it does to mid-majors on the biggest stage in college baseball.

Meier turned to his teammates and said what he said.

"It's 6-2. Same score as Miami, same inning, same start. We'll win the game."

Troy coach Skylar Meade heard it from the dugout.

"I thought I was the only weirdo that remembers those things," Meade said afterward. "Steve, he's our weirdo, you know? He remembers those things, and he means it."

Troy won 12-8. Outscored Ole Miss 10-2 the rest of the way. Sean Darnell reached base in all five plate appearances and drove in four. Jimmy Janicki's 21st home run tied it in the seventh. Boroff's two-run double broke it open. The first College World Series victory in program history.

Meier knew because he'd seen it before. Two weeks earlier at the Gainesville Regional, Troy trailed Miami 6-2 in an elimination game. The Trojans scored seven unanswered. Jabe Boroff hit two home runs. Zach Crotchfelt retired the final 11 batters. Troy won 9-6.

"Losers stop when it gets tough, and that's not what our guys do," Meade said. "And that's why they're getting everything they deserve right now and hopefully a lot more."

This is not new for Troy. It is who they are.

On March 28, the Trojans were 11-16. They are the first team in the history of the College World Series to reach Omaha with 30 losses. Sunday's comeback was their 18th come-from-behind win of the season.

At the Sun Belt Tournament, they needed to beat South Alabama and top-seeded Southern Miss just to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament. They did.

At the Gainesville Regional, they lost their opener to Miami and faced four straight elimination games — including two against No. 8 national seed Florida on the Gators' home field. They won all four. Boroff was named regional MVP with 12 RBI and home runs in back-to-back games against Florida.

At the Super Regional, more than 13,000 fans showed up across two days at a stadium that seats 2,000. Troy swept Little Rock and left for Omaha.

Then Friday, West Virginia tied it in the eighth and won 7-5. Troy was back in an elimination game. Again.

"People don't remember your stats, they remember if you're a winner or not," Meade said.

There is a version of Sunday's game where Troy becomes the latest mid-major eliminated quietly at the College World Series. SEC teams had won 13 straight games against non-SEC opponents in Omaha before this weekend. Last year, Murray State went to Omaha, went 0-2 and was no-hit by Arkansas. The script was there.

Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco saw something different.

"Credit Troy for getting the big hit time and time again," Bianco said. "You look at the back half of the game, we scored runs, but we just couldn't stop them."

Troy hit everything. Bianco saw it.

"They were certainly able to make adjustments," he said. "They hit a fastball out, hit a slider out and I think might have hit a changeup out. Just a great job by them."

Troy did not just survive Sunday. They dominated the final five innings. Noah Thigpen threw five innings of relief — six hits, two runs, five strikeouts — and gave the offense time to do what it does. The Trojans averaged 10.6 runs per game in the NCAA tournament entering Sunday. They hit that number again.

Meier could not finish the game. He tweaked a lower extremity in the seventh inning when his foot caught the warning track. He had already been replaced by Zaid Diaz when the final out was recorded.

Meade was asked if Meier would play Tuesday.

"The guy's had two shoulder surgeries on his right shoulder. We thought his season was done in our ninth game of the year when it felt like it went out," Meade said. "I say that to say, he'll find a way. He'll start Tuesday. If he's got to come out, he'll have to come out."

That is the team. Two shoulder surgeries. An 0-for-4 start with four strikeouts for Boroff. Eleven losses and sixteen defeats by the end of March. A regional opener lost. A College World Series game lost Friday.

Every time it looked like the end, they found more.

When Meade was asked at the Gainesville Regional if Troy was a Cinderella, he rejected it outright.

"This is what we're supposed to do," he said. "We have to have that bravado of who we are and who we strive to be, which is our best selves."

Troy plays West Virginia on Tuesday at 1 p.m. CT. Another elimination game. Another deficit to erase, or another chance to prove they never needed saving.

Meier will be in the lineup. He'll find a way. That's just what these Trojans do. Why stop now?