Sports Editor

Tuesday night the Abbeville All-Stars did the unthinkable.

The beat the Troy 14-year-old team.

Abbeville took a 1-0 lead in the first inning and when Troy came back to tie it in the third, Abbeville scored four more runs.

Then four again in the fourth.

And three runs in the fifth.

Troy was able to manage one more run before the game was called, with Abbeville taking a hands down 12-2 victory. It was an amazing effort by the team from Henry County, considering that Troy defeated Abbeville 20-5 just a few short days ago.

It was a bad night at the plate for Troy, with

just four hits out of 19 at-bats. Pete VanHorn had two of those

hits going 2/3 for Troy and claiming his team’s only two RBI’s. Fernando White and Brett Pierce each had one hit.

"The team just had an off night," said Troy assistant coach Ron Pierce. "Winning like we did before, I think they thought Abbeville was just going to roll over for them. Their heads just were not in the game."

Before the team left on Tuesday, head coach Butch VanHorn said the intensity level of his team wasn’t there like it had been, simply because, up until the game Tuesday night, Troy had dominated the opposition,

"They just are not enthused about going down there to play," he said.

But Pierce said the loss to Abbeville has served as a wake-up call to the 14-year-old boys; win or go home.

"I think the loss on Tuesday night really opened their eyes and now they’re ready to take care of business at hand," he said.

Pierce said number one pitcher Pete VanHorn pitched the first two innings Tuesday night and was available for five innings against Abbeville on Wednesday.

Much like a bad houseguest that doesn’t quite know when to leave, Abbeville has hung around long enough to create a bump in the road to the state tournament for Troy. What was an almost certain district title a

few nights before, now becomes a do-or-die situation for Butch VanHorn, Ron Pierce and the rest of the ‘Wild Bunch.’

Wednesday night, Troy headed back to Geneva for one last bout with the only team to beat them so far in either districts or sub-districts.