ENTERPRISE – Troy now finds itself on the brink of elimination at the Dixie Youth State Machine Pitch Tournament, this after Troy fell to defending state champion South Bibb 8-4 Saturday night.

The score was tied at 3 after the top of the fourth, but South Bibb used big innings in both the fourth and fifth to put the game out of reach.

South Bibb took the lead 5-3 on a pair of RBIs from Christian Arnold and Baylor Hughey in the fourth. Then, in the fifth, Quindarius Crews hit a triple that drove in three runs to all but put Troy away.

Troy attempted to rally in the top of the sixth, scoring on an RBI from Karson Mays to make it 8-4, but Gage Knighten grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the game with two Troy runners on base

‘”We hit the ball hard, but they just made all the plays they needed to,” said Troy head coach Andy Blair. “They had that one big inning, and you can’t do that against good teams. But, maybe we’ll get to see them again.”

Troy scored two of its three runs in the first on RBIs from Ty Singleton and Mays.

Crews had an RBI in the bottom of the first to make it 2-1, Troy.

South Bibb took the lead in the bottom of the third on a two-RBI single from Crews, only to see Troy tie the game in the top of the fourth.

Caden Bryan had an RBI groundout to make it 3-3 and set the stage for the South Bibb explosion.

As opposed to its first two games in the state tournament, the Troy defense was often affected by aggressive South Bibb base running.

“It was just one of those deals where a kid takes off on you, and you’ve got half the crowd screaming for you to do one thing and the other half screaming for you to do something else,” Blair said. “That’s something we can work through, and that’s why we’re out here playing when these kids are 8 years old.”

Singleton led Troy, going 2-3 with an RBI. Mays was 1-3 with two RBIs.

Crews led the way for South Bibb, as he went 3-3 with six RBIs.

Now, Troy will play Oxford Black Sunday at 2 p.m. in an elimination game.

“We’ll come out and play like we have nothing to lose,” Blair said. “We’ll play as hard as we can, and hopefully we’ll see a different outcome.”

The winner of that game will advance to play the loser of the Enterprise-South Bibb game Monday at 5:30 p.m.