The Troy post 70 19U is 1-1 after falling to Ozark 6-2 on Friday and defeating Tuscaloosa 11-10 on Saturday.

Head coach Rush Hixon said although the players did many good things, they also looked a little rusty.

“We had to knock of the rust,” Hixon said. “That’s kind of what the first weekend is for. I think we have a really talented team and if we put everything together we have a chance of reaching our goal of a state championship.”

In game one against Ozark, Post 70 ran into a bit of trouble on the mound. In game two, Post 70 jumped out to a seven run lead and looked dominant early. Tuscaloosa was able to battle their way back to take the lead in the middle innings before Post 70 pulled it out late.

“Our pitching staff walked too many batters,” Hixon said. “When we were down in the strike zone we were effective, which is always a good sign. I think we can fix the walks.”

After a long season of high school baseball, it’s hard to figure out what kind of performance you’re going to get, Hixon said. “You never know what you’re going to get when they get out there,” Hixon said. “We saw them in high school, we just haven’t seen them against this caliber of competition. You win ball games on the mound. If your guys can give you a quality start and the guys out of the pen can do their jobs then we have a chance to win a lot of games.”

After struggling to bunch hits together in game one, Post 70 bounced back in a big way when they put up 11 runs in game two.

“We have some guys that are really talented with the bat,” Hixon said. “Some guys that didn’t have a good weekend, I know will bounce back later on for us. I can see us put up five runs when we play. If you score five runs you should win some ball games.”

Post 70 will be back in action at home today at Riddle-Pace Field with a double-header against Pace High school at 11 and Stanhope Elmore shortly after.

“It’s a great chance to get back out there,” Hixon said. “We were going to practice … and then we got asked to do this and it’s a great opportunity to get some game reps in instead of practice.”