The Troy Nationals scored early and often en route to a 15-5 win over Enterprise American in the first round of the District Tournament Friday night in Jack.

Nationals head coach David Bradford liked what he saw from his young group of players.

“We started off a little slow, but got things turned around for the better in the middle,” Bradford said. “Our boys never quit and kept on swinging and played good defense.”

Ford Hussey got the rally going in the middle innings with a base knock, and later scored.

Bradford pointed to the efforts of Pruitt Vaughn, Kade Brookins and Jackson Booth one of the biggest parts of the win.

“All of the guys played well, but we had some big hits that helped us get the win,” Bradford said. “Kade hit a three-run triple that really got things going in our favor.”

The Nationals will play Enterprise National in the second round of the tournament Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Bradford feels a Troy win on Saturday puts his team in the driver’s seat.

“It is important to win the first tonight, and we did,” Bradford said. “It gives the boys some confidence, and we just have to keep it going. If we can win Saturday, we would then be off until Monday. A loss and we have to play right after. We want to win, and we are going to try to keep out good luck rolling along.”

Americans fall to Enterprise 7-6: Despite a 7-6 loss to Enterprise Friday, Chris Campbell told his team they had nothing to be ashamed of.

Just a few days ago, Enterprise handily downed Troy. Friday was a completely different story.

“We lost to this team pretty bad a the first time we played them,” Campbell said. “But tonight, we led for a good portion of the game. I am extremely proud of our team and can’t wait to get back out here tomorrow.”

Wes Braisted and Tyler McLendon hit home runs for Troy and Omari Barron made a diving stop in the outfield to keep a run from scoring.

Troy plays at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in the second round of the District Tournament in Zion Chapel.