Many of the members of the 2016 AAA Rookie team won a district title a year ago as members of the Troy Machine Pitch, and they are hungry to repeat the process this year.

“We are very excited,” said head coach Adam Brookins. “We played in warm up tournament last weekend and the boys are ready to get the uniforms on and get out there and play baseball. They are getting tired of practicing every day.”

Since the regular season ended a couple weeks ago, all all-star teams have been filling out rosters and positioning players.

“A lot of kids are playing positions that they didn’t play during the regular season,” Brookins said. “We are having to try and find the right kids to play the right positions. I think we got that figured out after the first couple of practices.”

Brookins coached last year’s machine pitch team that represented Troy in the state tournament. This season, he has had to adjust to new challenges that the new league offers, including live pitching.

“It’s adjustment, because now you have to worry about pitching,” Brookins said. “We have about seven kids that can pitch for us and throw strikes. That’s big because it helps out a lot.”

Pitching is always a big deal when it comes to playing baseball, but in a league where many of the batters are facing live pitching for the first time, the team that can throw strikes will have a leg up in the tournament.

“It’s really important because you don’t want to walk anybody,” Brookins said. “We don’t have a really dominant pitcher, but the seven that we do have can throw strikes.”

During the warm-up tournament in Enterprise, each player made an impact.

“Everybody 1-12 in the lineup hit the ball really hard,” Brookins said. “It helps when no matter who is up to bat they can hit the ball in the outfield.”

The AAA rookies will take part in the Enterprise District where they will face the Enterprise Nationals and Americans as well as Greenville and Eufaula.

“We start of with the Enterprise National team and it’s no secret that Troy and Enterprise are pretty big rivals,” Brookins said. “I am looking forward to going down there and playing them … when you play for Troy there is no one else you would rather beat than Enterprise.”

The members of the AAA rookie team are: Hayden Adamson, Rhodes Baker, Seth Berry, Kade Brookins, Cooper Campbell, Cade Edwards, Joshua Hooten, KaNeil Lewis, Blake Lowery, Tyler McLendon, Cole Pugh and Pruitt Vaughn.

Troy will take on the Enterprise Nationals g at 7:30 p.m. at the Enterprise Recreation Complex.