Troy remains alive in Series
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, August 3, 2004
AIKEN, S.C. – The Troy Jr. Dixie Boys played with their old intensity and attitude Tuesday night, exploding for 15 runs on 15 hits en route to a 15-5 victory over Bosssier City, La., in an elimination round of the Jr. Dixie Boys World Series.
Troy also played great defense, committing no errors on the night, unlike Monday evening, when they were defeated by Decatur 11-7. In that loss, Troy committed seven errors.
Troy plays tonight against the winner of the Decatur vs. Aiken, S.C., contest. Both of those teams were undefeated entering Tuesday's contest.
Jake Smith started on the mound for Troy, and worked three strong innings for the victory, allowing one run on two hits, walking one and striking out one.
Smith was aided by a stellar double-play by Troy's defense in the second inning, as Clifton Brady fielder a grounder at short, stepped on the bag and whipped to David Fleming at first.
Bossier City scored one run in the first inning off two hits, but Troy put two on the board with two outs when
William Teal and Alex Adams walked, and Wesley Hayes crushed a drive to the left field wall scoring both runners.
Troy batted around and took an 8-2 lead in the bottom of the second inning as Ethan Harris and Jared Rogers walked, Dario Rouse, Brady, Teal and Adams hit consecutive singles, and Hayes hit his second double of the game to the fence for the 8-2 lead.
Troy extended its lead to 13-1 in the bottom of the third inning when Brady and Teal hit consecutive doubles, and Adams, celebrating his birthday, drew a walk. Hayes also walked, with Fleming and Smith hitting consecutive RBI singles. Rouse hit a two-out single to drive in the final run of the inning for the 13-1 advantage.
Rouse came on to pitch in the top of the fourth inning for Troy, with Bossier City scoring one run. The Louisiana team added three more runs in the top of the fifth, cutting the lead to 13-5.
Parker Sanders led off the bottom of the fifth inning for Troy by reaching on a hard hit grounder that was misplayed by the first baseman, Trey Walters ripped a single, Corey Goodson walked and Rouse singled to drive in two more runs for the 15-5, 10-run-rule victory.
Rouse led Troy at the plate with three hits, while Brady, Teal, Hayes and Fleming had two hits each. Adams, Wes Sullivan, Smith and Walters had one hit each.
Tonight's game can be heard live on WTBF, AM-970 or FM-94.7.
The winners of Wednesday's games will play in the championship on Thursday.