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The Troy Post 70 19U team is heading back to the American Legion World Series for the third consecutive year this week.

Post 70 captured the Southeast Regional Championship this past weekend, winning all but one of its games.

“We played really good ball all week and put ourselves in a really good position going into the championship on Sunday to have a little room for error if needed and it was (needed),” Post 70 coach Ross Hixon said. “The teams we were playing were really, really good and we knew they would throw their best punch at us in game one and they did. It was a long day, 16 total innings, and we kept taking punches from them and the first time we led all day was the last pitch of the day in game two.

“It was an absolute grind and it makes it really sweet to win it that way and it also took about five years off my life. It was super stressful but our kids played extremely hard and you could tell they would do anything they could to give us a shot to win and that’s all you could ask for.”

Troy Post 70 now sets its sights on the World Series. Post 70 made history this weekend by becoming one of just a handful of programs to make it to three straight American Legion World Series appearances.

“It’s been really fun to watch these last three years,” Hixon said. “You won’t be able to do it every single year – it’s just no feasible – but to be able to do it three years in a row is special. We’re only the 11th program ever in the history of Legion Baseball to do that. You’re making history in a league with a long history (The first American Legion world series was in 1926 or 98 years ago).

“It’s a compliment we definitely will look back on when we end the season. Just getting there three straight times is a win itself. John Rushing, when he started the program back up, and my brother – Rush (Hixon) – laid the foundation to get this program to this level. It’s not just the current group of guys but there was also groundwork laid before this point to grow this program.”

Troy Post 70 will kick off the World Series this Thursday, Aug. 15, facing off against Massachusetts in the opening round at 3 p.m. CST. Hixon said he’s looking to see the same things from his team in the World Series as the coaching staff asked for at Regionals.

“If we play hard and control what we can control, we’ll have a good shot to win it,” he said. “If we don’t do that, we don’t have anything to hang our hat on, but if we continue to do what we did last week then we’ll give ourselves a shot.

Mistakes and errors will also be key for Post 70.

“There are seven other really good teams here and, with a tournament like this, who doesn’t make mistakes is usually what matters most,” Hixon emphasized. “Usually the team that makes the least amount of mistakes – whether that be physical or mental mistakes – will win 90 percent of the time. Playing hard and playing for each other and being extremely tough on not wanting to lose is all important.”