Troy Post 70 fell in its opening round game against the West 49ers at the Alabama American Legion Junior State Tournament in a game that saw nine combined errors, two weather delays and a total of 26 runs scored in eight innings.

Unfortunately Post 70 players made seven of the nine errors committed in the game.

“I don’t think we were ready from the first pitch,” said head coach Bradley Futch. “Defense has been our problem all year long and that really came back to bite us tonight.”

The game was decided in the top of the eighth when the 49ers scored four runs off of Troy pitcher K.D. Edenfield to take a 15-11 lead.

Troy could not muster any runs in the bottom of the eighth, giving the 49ers the win and dropping Troy to 0-1 in Pool B play.

Troy led 9-4 at one point, but saw the 49ers score two runs in the fifth and five runs in the sixth to take an 11-9 lead.

Troy fought back to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth, however, scoring two unearned runs.

Troy also had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Post 70 had runners on first and second with just one out, but was unable to capitalize.

James Connell popped out to the shortstop and Dalton Harris ripped a line drive that was caught by the 49ers’ second baseman to end the inning and send the game into extras.

Despite the tough loss, Futch was pleased with the effort of his starting pitcher, Blake Hutchinson, but not the defense behind him.

“We threw a guy tonight who lets a lot of balls get put into play and just depends on the defense to back him up out there, but he had no support whatsoever tonight,” Futch said.

Futch gave credit to Hutchinson for not getting frustrated with his teammates.

“We had a guy on the mound tonight who doesn’t let much affect him,” Futch said. “He’s not a very emotional guy. He doesn’t show a whole lot of emotion and that’s what you want out of a pitcher.”

Troy’s offense was a bright spot, as they pounded out 11 runs on nine hits.

“Our bats were pretty solid,” Futch said. “We scored 11 runs. Most nights you score 11, you’re going to win, but our defense just let us down tonight.”

Connell went 1-3 with 3 RBIs, while Edenfield went 2-4 at the plate.

Troy will face East Limestone Post 49 Saturday at 4 p.m.

Futch said his team has a lot of work to do in a short amount of time.

“We’ve just got to put more work in,” Futch said. “We’ve got to take more ground balls and just work harder. That’s really the only thing you can do.