A three-way tie and a one-run loss combined to thwart the Troy Dixie Boys’ quest for a state title on Tuesday.

After play concluded Monday evening the Dixie Boys tournament had a three-way tie between Troy, Spanish Fort and Dothan, meaning one team would draw for a bye on Tuesday afternoon. Spanish Fort drew that bye, and Troy and Dothan Nationals faced off for the second time in the tournament.

Unfortunately for Troy, a tight game ended in an 8-7 loss and a third place finish in the tournament.

“We played a great tournament all together,” said head coach Steve Barron. “We lost to a team that is a really good ball club.”

Troy’s starting pitcher Jared Sikes struggled with his control in the first inning.

JC Summerford, Joey Wazniak, Tanner Devane, and Hay Sheppard all reached base via the walk. Summerford came around to score on a wild pitch to put the Nationals up 1-0. They added another run when AJ Pierce singled driving in Wazniak.

Troy answered quickly and used their speed to tie the game y in the second inning.

Will Reeves led off the inning with a base hit followed by a single by Lawson Scarbrough. AD’Quavian Toney reached base on a fielder’s choice, scoring Reeves. Then Max Copeland drove in the second run when he singled in Toney.

Dothan added two more runs in the bottom of the second when Will Solomon began the inning with a double followed by RBI hits by both Wazniak, and AJ Pierce, whom had a two run base hit.

Trevor Barron stepped up for Troy again in the third inning, leading the inning with his third home run of the tournament and cutting Troy’s deficit to 6-3. After a Cody Hollis single and a Tristen Carter double, Reeves came up and drove both in with a single.

Dothan added another run in the bottom of third inning to stretch their lead out to 7-5 and a homerun in the fifth by Preston Davis made it 8-5.

Troy had two outs and runners on first and second, with Noah Lowery up to bat in the seventh, when a rain delay forced an hour-long interruption.

When play resumed, Lowery got he pitched he thought he could handle and pounded it in the dirt towards second base, where the second baseman scooped up the baseball and flipped it over to first to end the game.

With the win for Dothan advanced to play Spanish Fort for the 2015 Dixie Boys State Championship and the opportunity to represent the state in the World Series in South Carolina.

Even though the tournament ends for Troy it doesn’t overshadow their success, including winning the Alabama State Games.

“We had a long talk afterwards about how they are going to learn lessons from this,” Barron said. “It builds character and gives them a lesson. These 12 players are going to be awesome young men someday.”