Troy victorious
Published 11:10 pm Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The Troy American Legion Post 70 baseball squad’s 6-3 win over Carroll Tuesday was not without excitement.
Quay Lawson hit a controversial home run, Mitch McLeod stole home and five players saw action on the mound for Troy.
“We did a good job of getting ahead early and we kept them off the board,” Post 70 head coach Bradley Futch said. “We made the routine plays and got timely hitting. They (Carroll) outhit us, but we got the hits when we needed them.”
Lawson blasted a ball to left field that even he thought was foul, but it was called a home run and it put Troy up 2-0 in the first inning.
“I was just trying to help the team out,” Lawson said. “I got the pitch I love to hit, an inside fastball, and I lucked up on it.”
With Troy leading 5-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning of a nine-inning game, McLeod tripled to open the inning. After two batters failed to drive McLeod home he got the sign he has been looking for all summer.
“I have been nagging coach to let me steal home all year and he finally let me do it,” McLeod said.
Futch knew it was the perfect time and place for the theft.
“We had a runner on third with no one out and we couldn’t get him in,” Futch said. “We needed to keep a grand slam from beating us. We gave Harrison (Reeves) a chance to hit and he swung and missed, so we put it on and Mitch beat the pitch to the plate.”
Troy scored two in the first inning on Lawson’s home run, two in the fourth inning, one in the sixth and one in the eighth.
In the fourth, Nathan Barron singled, Chase Connell grounded into a fielder’s choice and Barron scored on a wild pitch. Dalton Harris doubled to plate Connell.
In the sixth inning Barron singled and Reeves knocked him home with a single. Carroll scored one run in each of the seventh and eighth innings before McLeod stole home in the eighth. Carroll added one unearned run in the ninth.
Blake Hutchinson started the game and went three innings and allowed zero runs on four hits with four strikeouts. Harris relieved Hutchinson and threw three innings with two hits allowed.
Lawson, Chance Shaver and McLeod each threw one inning. Lawson allowed one unearned run on two hits with one strikeout. Shaver allowed one run on two hits and McLeod allowed one unearned run on one hit with two strikeouts.
Click here for a photo gallery of Tuesday’s action