Troy beat Little Rock 12-2 in Game 1 of the Super Regional on Friday, a victory that leaves the program one win from its first-ever trip to the College World Series in Omaha.
The final score was emphatic and the individual headline belonged to Jabe Boroff, who hit two home runs in the game, the latter an eighth-inning grand slam that cleared into the patriotic bounce house in left field.
The size of the margin — 12-2 — and Boroff’s two long balls supplied the clearest evidence that Troy controlled the opening act of the series. A dominant Game 1 moves the Trojans to the brink of history: one victory will seal a first trip to Omaha.
The win sits atop a postseason run that has been unusual by any measure: Troy hosted a Super Regional for the first time and earlier in the tournament upset Florida twice, including a 10-2 winner-take-all victory on June 1, 2026, in the Gainesville Regional.
That run matters because it contrasts with how the season began. While the program scraped into the NCAA tournament, it has since reversed course and mounted a surge that culminated in hosting this round. The gap between barely making the bracket and standing one win from the College World Series is the tight, uncomfortable fact behind every headline.
Boroff’s performance is a microcosm of that turnaround. On May 9 he was hitting.114 with one home run; less than a month later he was hitting.270 with 11 home runs. The scale of his swing in form — from one long ball to 11 in weeks — supplied the punch Troy needed in Game 1.
Observers outside the program have taken notice, urging attention to what’s happening in Alabama as the run unfolds. That external buzz is built on a few simple pieces of evidence: an emphatic Super Regional win, a player who remade his season, the program’s first time hosting at this stage, and two postseason victories over a high-profile Florida squad.
Game 1 gave Troy control; Game 2 hands the program the chance to finish the job. A win in the next Super Regional game will send Troy to the College World Series for the first time in program history. A loss would push the decision to a winner-take-all Game 3. The single most consequential unanswered question now is straightforward: will Troy win the next game and secure that first-ever trip to Omaha?
