final four: After going undefeated in pool play, Machine Pitch team adanvances to play in Final Four
Published 3:00 am Thursday, August 6, 2015
The Troy Machine Pitch team advanced to the final four in the Dixie Youth Boys World Series in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina after finishing pool play with a perfect 5-0 record.
After defeating North Carolina 16-6 and Arkansas 10-0, Troy followed it up with a 7-4 win over Mississippi, 15-7 win over Texas and a 17-0 win over North Myrtle Beach to wrap up pool play.
Unlike in the team’s previous wins, Troy fell behind early 1-0 against Mississippi late Tuesday evening, and the deficit could have been more if it wasn’t for a critical double play turned by Troy with the bases loaded to get them out of the inning trailing by just a run.
Troy carried that momentum into the bottom of the first and tied the game up at one. Wes Braisted knocked a two out single to left field, which was followed by base hits by Kade Brookins and Dawson Bradford to even the score.
Mississippi had runners on second and first with one out in the second and Troy snuffed out another rally by having their second straight inning-ending double play.
“We had a very good game defensively. We had a double play in the first with the bases loaded and again in the second inning with one out,” said Troy head coach Adam Brookins. “Jordan McBryde played a great game for us at shortstop.”
Just like in the first inning Troy capitalized on that momentum and added another run in the third inning when Kaneil Lewis gave Troy another two-out hit followed by a double by Jackson Booth to drive in Troy’s second run.
Troy gained their separation in the fourth inning by scoring three more runs. Bradford, McBryde and Vaughn all came around to score for Troy. Troy scored their final run in the fifth inning.
Troy clinched a spot in the World Series Final Four with a 15-7 win over Texas Wednesday morning.
Seven Troy players finished the games against Texas with at least three hits in the ball game.
Jackson Booth and Kade Brookins led the way with four hits a piece, while Rhodes Baker, Dawson Bradford, Jordan McBryde and Pruitt Vaughn all finished with three hits in the win over Texas.
Booth who has been a extra-base-hitting machine all tournament long added another double and a triple to the list against Texas.
“We really hit the ball consistently when we really needed it,” Adam Brookins said. “We knew that the Texas game was a big one for us. If we could beat them we knew we had a good chance to beat the host team and finish undefeated.”
Troy did carry over their momentum into the game against North Myrtle Beach and walked away with a comfortable 17-0 win ending pool play with a perfect 5-0 record.
Braisted, Booth and McBryde once again had a good game and finished with three hits to lead the Machine Pitch Team. Baker, Bradford and Vaughn all finished with two hits.
Including the five wins during the World Series, Troy is on a 13 game winning streak and will play in the semi finals as the number one seed from Pool B and will play the number two seed who is still yet to be determined today at 9:00 a.m.
“It’s amazing when we went to state we did not know what kind of team we had,” Brookins said. “After we won at state we came up here for the World Series and we said why not us. There are 11 state champions here, and they all did the same thing we did so why not us? Why not Troy, Alabama?”