Troy’s Josh Starling threw a gem for six innings Thursday night and the Troy Dixie Boys took out Dothan 9-1 to remain undefeated in the district tournament at the Troy Sportsplex.

Starling allowed two hits in six innings, both to Dothan’s Roquel Marsh. He struck out five and walked one.

“We got a great pitching performance from Josh,” Troy head coach Britt Newman said. “He hung in there and Jalin stepped in for him when he got hurt out there.”

Starling hurt his back and had to leave the game before finishing the shutout.

Newman said Dothan was no slouch.

“That was a good ball club we just faced,” he said. “They gave us a run for our money.”

Dothan was the first team in the tournament Troy did not score 20 runs against. The team won its two previous games by a combined score of 45-2.

Troy’s Jalin Lawson was a triple shy of the cycle in a 3-for-3 effort. He had five RBIs in the game and scored two runs. Michael Fox and Robert Benton also scored two runs and Tehron Stallworth also had a home run. Lawson Stewart and Brantley LeCroy scored the other two runs for Troy and Gavin Gunter scored Dothan’s lone run in the seventh inning.

Troy faces Enterprise at 8 p.m. tonight and Dothan squares off with Columbia-Webb at 6 p.m.

Troy 11

Elba 1

The Troy Junior Boys never stopped scoring runs Wednesday night and took out Elba 11-1 to knock Elba to the loser’s bracket.

Troy jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first three innings and after Elba scored one in the third, blew the game open with six runs in the final three innings for the win.

Chandler Avant, Tripp Blackmon and John Johnson each scored for Troy in the first inning. Morgan Shaver crossed home plate in the second, Blake Craft scored in the third, Avant, Blackmon and Chase Smartt each scored in the fourth inning and Craft, Johnson and Myles Loving capped the scoring and the game in the sixth inning.

Kyson Edwards scored Elba’s only run.

Click here for a photo gallery of Thursday’s action