Despite offensive struggles, the Troy Americans found a way to win its first round game of the State Tournament, Saturday night against Hartselle.

Even though it was a new day and a new game on Sunday against the Auburn Blue team, the offensive struggles continued – this time with Troy unable to find a way to bounce back.

Troy found themselves in an early hole, and one that turned out to be too deep, as Auburn went on to win 9-3.

With the win, Auburn stays perfect at 2-0, and will play on Tuesday night in the fourth round.

Troy falls to 1-1 in the tournament, with its next game coming on Monday at 7:30 p.m. against Underwood.

“That one hurt,” head coach Frank Scarbrough said following the loss.

“We found ourselves in a hole early and were unable to get out of it.

“The kids know they got to believe in themselves – they know what they have to do the rest of the tournament,” the coach added.

Troy was unable to get anything going in the top half of the first inning, thanks to three-straight strikeouts.

Unfortunately, Auburn was able to do just the opposite against Troy starter, Cole Little.

The home team scored four runs in the first off of five hits and one run in the second off of three hits, to take 5-0 lead.

Little also struck out three batters in his two innings of work.

After both team went scoreless in the third inning, Troy’s bats came to life.

Reed Jinright and Garrett Tucker led the inning off with back-to-back singles and a batter later, just like he did in Saturday’s night games, Dawson Hamlin got his team on the board with an RBI single.

Lawson Scarbrough followed up Hamlin’s at-bat with a two-RBI single of his own to cut the Auburn lead to just two runs, at 5-3.

Auburn would respond however, with three runs of their own of off Garrett Tucker, who came in in relief.

The team in orange and blue would add one more insurance run in the bottom of the fifth, to take a 9-3 lead.

“Auburn is a great team,” Scarbrough said. “They had some great pitchers on the mound and they had some great hits – and we did not, and that’s what happens in baseball sometimes.”

Troy batters collected just five hits in the game for the second-straight night, while striking out 10 times.

The coach said he hopes the loss will be one that his team is able to learn from and even in defeat, there were still some positives to work off of.

“Hopefully, (this loss) will be an eye-opener for us,” Scarbrough said. “And if it’s not, we are going to be watching the rest of this tournament with shorts and t-shirts on.”

“We got some work to do, but it is nothing that we can’t do. I thought we did a good job of staying focused and we played well defensively. The hits will come, but its up to the kids,” the coach added.

For the game, Reed Jinright finished 1-2 with a run scored, while Garrett Tucker finished 1-3 with a run scored.

Both Hamlin and Lawson Scarbrough finished 1-2, combing to drive in all three Troy runs.

Spenser Floyd also finished 1-2.

In other action from around the tournament, thee teams were eliminated on Sunday.

Geneva, the Mountaineers, and White Plains all exited the State Tournament, as Monroe County, Spanish Fort and Hartselle all survived elimination games.