The Troy Post 70 17U baseball team got their summer off to a roaring start on Friday by defeating Millbrook 14-4 and Tuscaloosa 15U 4-1 on day one of the Terry Jinright Invitational.

“Overall I thought we looked pretty good,” said head coach Tripp Blackmon. “Swinging the bat early, we looked a little rusty. As the game got going we started to swing a little bit.”

Post 70 headed into Friday’s games knowing they wanted to use the first two games to get themselves mentally and physically ready for a long summer of baseball.

“These were two good games to play to just get back into the swing of things,” Blackmon said. “The main thing I was concerned about was pitching with the guys being off for a month, but the guys played well.”

Game two’s starter Charlie Tisdale didn’t look like he missed a beat following the high school season. He threw all seven innings, allowing just one run on just five hits with six strikeouts.

“I was really happy for Charlie,” Blackmon said. “I was kind of worried how he was going to do because he threw a lot in school ball. He brought it with him today.”

Tisdale ran into his only trouble in the second inning when Tuscaloosa sent five batters to the plate and scored a run on three hits.

Troy battled back in the third inning and tied it up when Brennan Aycock singled in Carson Tucker.

Post 70 took a one-run lead in the fourth inning when Grant Hughes grounded out to score Reed Jinright, who reached on a single and stole second base.

With Tisdale cruising through the middle innings, Post 70 broke out for a pair of runs in the fifth inning. After Tucker reached on a hit by pitch, he advanced to third base on an errant pick off attempt by the pitcher. He came around to score on a sacrifice fly Aycock.

Nate Renfroe followed with a triple and came around to score when Tisdale doubled, giving Post 70 a 4-1 lead heading into the sixth inning.

The Troy team will play again on Sunday Post 70 17U team will continue the Terry Jinright Invitational on Sunday when they take on Americus Travelers at 9 a.m. and Tuscaloosa Post 34 at 4:30 p.m.

“We are supposed to be playing two pretty good teams,” Blackmon said. “We will be challenged a little bit like we were today. We are going to see what we are made of.”