Sports Editor

The bats came alive and Troy stayed alive in the Dixie Boys 13-year-old Sub-District Tournament at the Sportsplex on Tuesday night.

The Troy 13-year-old squad pounded their way past Luverne, scoring four runs in the fifth and three runs in the seventh to win going away 11-4.

Troy meets Greenville tonight in hopes of pushing the potential championship contest into a do-or-die situation. Greenville can wrap up the sub-district title tonight with a victory, but a loss means a playoff game will follow on Thursday night.

"Greenville’s great," said Troy head coach Sam Kitchens, whose team lost to Greenville 7-1 on Monday night. "They’re a good ball team."

Chad Jordan entered the game in the third for Troy to pick up the win over Luverne. Blake Sanders opened the game for Troy, but Jordan was pushed into service after the starter gave up a hit to Luverne’s Kyle Sexton and issued a walk to Clay Sanders. Luverne had the bases loaded with Troy up 3-2, but Jordan recorded three straight outs, two on strikes, to get his team out of the inning.

However, Kitchens said Jordan, who is the closest thing Troy’s got to a No. 1 pitcher, would not be eligible for tonight’s game against Greenville.

"We had to have this one tonight," Kitchens said. "We couldn’t hold him off. We waited as long as we could to bring him. We’ll go with Tobias (Lee), Blake or somebody else tomorrow night and just try to win the game. We have to beat Greenville twice so we knew that we would have to go at least one game without him."

Lee closed the game for Troy in the seventh, striking out two batters and fielding a hit ball back to the pitcher’s mound for the final out.

The Troy 13’s jumped out on top in the second, scoring three runs off four hits as Chase Avant, Chase Rogers and Jordan each had RBI singles. Foster Styron also scored for Troy after leading off the inning with a basehit.

Luverne answered with two runs in their half of the second. Chad Heartsell had a sacrifice fly, driving in one run, and Terry McClain added a one-run single.

Jordan would come back to hit a RBI double in the fourth, but Luverne would tie the game at four runs apiece in their at-bat, scoring two runs off no hits.

The fifth, however, ended up being Troy’s biggest of the night. Styron led off with a double and Daniel Farrar followed with a single. Rogers drove a runner home with a single, Taylor Sunday added an RBI on a force play and Zach Campbell rounded out the scoring with a basehit as Troy doubled up Luverne in the inning 8-4.

"We’re hot and cold," said Kitchens. "We come out in some ball games and score runs and then we let the other team back in it. We don’t seem to be able to put teams away. I don’t know. Maybe if we can get lucky and win a couple of more ball games, then maybe we can progress. Right now we’re just sort of treading water."

Jordan walked just one batter in his final two innings and struck out five while allowing no hits. Troy would add some insurance in the top of the seventh. Campbell, Jordan and Seth Copeland all adding RBIs on basehits.

Troy’s pitching allowed just four hits on the night.

Game time against Greenville is at 7 p.m. on Field 5.

Luverne 5

Greenville 2 (14-year-old)

Luverne knocked Greenville out of the 14-year-old Sub-District Tournament and will move on to face unbeaten Troy for the championship.

Luverne beat Greenville 5-2, led by the pitching of Fredrick Hawkins who went the full seven innings on the mound. Hawkins gave up five hits while striking out five Greenville batters.

The game was tied at 1-1 in the third when Luverne scored four straight runs in the top of the inning. Greenville was able to score only one run in the final four innings of play.

Shawn Nelson had an RBI on a force for Luverne and a basehit. Hawkins added a single and Jesse Dixon contributed a double and a single.

For Greenville, Brady Newton and Ryan Newton each had singles. David Stephenson was 2-for-4. Adam Moore and John Golson also added basehits.