HILLSBORO — The Troy Post 43 Legends made the most of of what the weather allowed last weekend, with a win over Van Wert and two wins in the Hillsboro Wood Bat Classic.
The Legends prepared for the Hillsboro Tournament with a 4-1 win over Van Wert Thursday.
Conner Carver and Tucker Miller combined to throw a three-hitter and Darius Boeke was 3-for-3 at the plate.
“We were prepped for a five-game weekend against some very good teams,” Troy Legends coach Frosty Brown said.
Troy opened with a 5-2 win over Hillsboro on Friday.
“We played at 10 a.m., so we had to leave at 6:30 a.m.,” Brown said. “The kids were ready.”
Facing Hillsboro’s top pitcher, a bases-loaded walk to Miller gave Troy a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
Troy would maintain that margin with Cy Baisden striking out seven over the last six innings, using pin-point control and a masterful ability to change speeds on his pitches.
Troy broke through with four runs in the sixth to make it 5-0.
Baisden doubled to right-center field and a walk and single loaded the bases.
Riley Wilson had a sacrifice fly, Noah McEldowney had a two-run single and another RBI single made it 5-0.
Hillsboro would get two runs in the seventh, before Baisden ended the game with back-to-back strikeouts.
Then, Mother Nature struck.
”We were really looking forward to Saturday, but torrential rain wiped out all of Saturday’s games,” Brown said. “We had everyone on the staff ready for the weekend and now we had to reconfigure our pitching plans.”
On Sunday, Troy would get a 3-1 win over Findlay, despite facing Findlay’s Alex Viths, who pitches for Akron University.
Grant Saunders and Warren Hartzell combined for a no-hitter for six and two-third innings, with both pitchers striking our four batters each.
“They had a great performance and were supported by excellent defense,” Brown said. “That is our eighth errorless game. We came out like gangbusters and took advantage of Viths inability to get his breaking ball over.”
McEldowney led off with a single through the infield and advance to third on Jonny Baileys’ double down the right-field line.
Boeke had a sacrifice fly and Carver had a fielder’s choice to make it 2-0.
In the sixth inning, McEldowney singled and moved to third on a steal and fielder’s choice.
After a walk, Troy executed a double steal, with McEldowney scoring Troy’s third run of the game.
“We threw 12 scoreless innings this weekend and I think if the weather had held up, we had a good shot at winning this tournament,” Brown said.
Troy returns to Duke Park to host Sidney White Tuesday and Brick City Wednesday in 7:30 p.m. games.
