to start 2000 on high note

By STEVEN G. WATSON

Sports Editor

The Troy Junior American Legion Post 70 baseball team got things off to a great start Saturday with a sweep of the Tuskegee Tigers 17-1 and 7-2.

Coach Terry Sikes feels that while the young team lost some talent off of last year’s strong squad who powered out to a 24-6 record, that Troy will still be able to compete well with area teams.

"We don’t want to talk about this year like a rebuilding year because we think we’ve got a good team here," Sikes said. "We’ll be real scrappy and fun to watch."

Sikes says he wants his team to reach their goal of winning 20 games in 2000 and will depend on a group that is mostly composed of kids in the 15-16 age range.

That goal got just a little bit harder recently as well when Brody Samples and David Taylor were involved in a car wreck. Taylor was okay and will be playing on the senior team, but Samples broke his arm and is out for a year. He hopes to be back for the High School season.

"That really hurt us because Brody was going to be one of our top pitchers," Sikes said. "We’ll be depending on our other aces now in Justin Sims and Wesley Wright. They are both capable of being two of the best in the league."

Brett Laney got the call in the team’s first game on Saturday. He got the win for Troy in a 17-1 decision in five innings.

Bill Hughes led the team at the plate going 3-for-3 with a double while Roderick Burden had a triple and Chris Logan, Jason Burgans, Wes Johnson and Wright all had singles.

In the second game Wright pitched a no-hitter through three innings striking out seven and walking only one in the 7-2 win. Burden had his second triple and Burgans hit an inside the park home run. Clint Pugh went 2-for-3.