Legion to three wins

By STEVEN G. WATSON

Sports Editor

The two key words of the weekend for the Troy Post 70 Junior Legion baseball team were: early and offense. Needless to say, they had plenty to speak of.

The team scored 17 of their 28 total runs on Friday and Saturday in the first two innings of the three games played. They took home three wins with a 9-3 win over Hartford Friday and a 9-3 and a 10-0 victory over Auburn Saturday and improved to 7-3 on the season.

Troy 9, Hartford 3

Troy started the game off with a bang as Chris Logan singled to begin the first and Clint Pugh followed with a two-run homer. Troy wasn’t finished, however.

After two straight outs, the team then took advantage of a pair of Hartford errors and four Troy singles, including three in a row, to score four more runs in the inning. They sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning.

On the other side of the plate, Hartford was having a hard time keeping up with Justin Sims who pitched a complete game, lasting seven innings allowing four hits and striking out seven. Hartford scored all three of their runs in the fourth on four Troy errors and a solo home run.

Roderick Burden led the team from the offensive side with a 2-for-4 night, but did most of his work on the base paths with three stolen bases. Logan also went 2-for-4 while Brett Laney had a double, Drew Kilpatrick notched a single and Jarvis Woods and Bill Hughes each had RBI singles.

Troy 9, Auburn 3

An early Auburn threat was snuffed out by Troy leading to another offensive explosion in game 1 of the two team’s double-header.

Auburn knocked Troy starter Brett Laney out after scoring one and loading the bases with two outs. Wesley Wright came in to save the day, however, striking out the seventh batter of the inning and leaving the bases juiced.

The missed opportunity for Auburn would haunt them almost immediately. Troy went on to score two in the bottom of the first, then five in the second highlighted by a Jason Burgans grand slam.

Layton Sanders came on in relief in the sixth holding Auburn scoreless in the final two innings, facing seven, striking out three and walking one.

Burgans finished the game 2-for-3 with four RBI’s while Burden had two singles, Laney had a triple and both Logan and Kilpatrick notched singles of their own.

Troy 10, Auburn 0

Auburn had already felt the offensive sting of Burgans in the first game after his second-inning grand slam, but in the second game of the double-header, Burgans stung Auburn with a two-hit shutout from the defensive end.

Burgans pitched all five innings of the shortened game walking only one and striking out seven Auburn batters.

Troy gave him plenty of run support as well scoring four in the second, three in the third, one in the fourth and two in the fifth. Helped by five Auburn errors, Troy ended the game early after a lead-off walk by Wright then a single by Brandon Hooks. Sanders drove in the final two runs with his second double of the day for his second and third RBI’s.

Logan, Druid Conrad and Kilpatrick all went 2-for-3 on the day with Logan notching a double. Wright had a two-RBI single and Huges finished with a single.