Junior Dixie Boys split games
Published 3:00 am Tuesday, July 21, 2015
After entering Monday’s games undefeated in the Junior Dixie Boys State Tournament at the Sportsplex, Troy split their two games on Monday falling to Enterprise 9-3 before beating Auburn in a must win game 10-0 to close out the day.
In game one, Troy fell to Enterprise but got on the board first in the first inning, after Jackson Blair and Payne Griffin both got on base to start the inning. Troy then got base hits from Logan Johnson and Javaris McNair to put Troy on top early 2-0.
Enterprise didn’t waste any time, however. In their half of the first inning, they were able to get their first three batters on base and plated all three of them to take a 3-2 lead.
Troy’s offense shut down from the second inning through the fourth inning Monday afternoon. During that stretch, Troy did not get a hit and went 1-2-3 in all three innings.
Enterprise took advantage of the lack of productivity and was able to push across a run in both the second and the fourth inning to push their lead to 5-2.
It wasn’t until the fifth inning when Troy was able to get on the board against Enterprise.
Both Griffin and Ty Singleton reached base via the walk in the fifth inning. After another walk by McNair loaded the bases, Caden Bryan came up and also walked driving in Griffin for their final run of the game.
Enterprise scored two more in the fifth inning when Aden Gilroy, and Drew Williams crossed home plate to officially put the game out of reach for Troy.
Troy managed only three hits Monday afternoon, all of them coming in the first inning.
The second game was a rematch of the opening round game in which Troy beat Auburn in a tightly-contested match throughout. However, Troy made their second meeting a little more comfortable on Monday evening.
“We hit the baseball tonight. We didn’t hit it this morning, but we did tonight,” said Junior Dixie Boys head coach Kevin Bryan. “We were able to get some hits and put the pressure on the defense and that always works.”
Troy once again jumped out to 2-0 lead on Auburn thanks to RBI-singles by both Singleton and Johnson.
Troy pressed the gas pedal down a little further in the second inning by scoring three more runs to give them a comfortable 5-0 lead.
Singleton was the hero in the second, by hitting a three-run homerun scoring Bryan who reached base on a single and Blair who walked.
In the third inning Troy pushed across three more runs to put the game out of reach 8-0.
Deveridge reached base on a single, along with Blair and Griffin who doubled in the inning to help Troy extend their lead.
Troy scored two more runs to push their lead to 10-0 that ended after five via the mercy rule.
The win for Troy sends them into a matchup today at 10 a.m. against Enterprise with a spot in the championship round on the line.
“We have to hit the baseball,” Bryan said. “They have a very good team over there.”