The Troup County National 11-12 all-stars have their sights set on something big.

A day after defeating the defending state-champion Albany all-stars 7-4 at the Dixie Youth Baseball state tournament in Newton County, the National saw a superb complete-game pitching performance from Jeremy Harper en route to a 6-1 win over Lee County Monday.

Troup and Peachtree Ridge are the only unbeaten teams remaining in the tournament at 3-0, and Monday’s win pits Troup against home-team Newton County (2-1) today at 8 p.m.

Harper, who finished with nine strikeouts and allowed just four hits, wouldn’t allow much offense from Lee County after the first inning, when Troup found itself in an early 1-0 hole.

Jonathan Foster didn’t allow Troup to be down long, as he hit a two-run double to give Troup a 2-1 advantage after the first.

Perry Keith had an RBI single and Colby Freeman had a sac fly RBI to make it a 4-1 game in the third inning.

In the fourth, Chase Freeman came home on a two-out, RBI single from Logan Hood to extend the Troup lead to 5-1. Troup would score again in the fifth on a series of wild pitches from Lee County.

The story of the tournament so far has been Troup’s dog-fight mentality, according to head coach Huey Hood.

“We made some great defensive plays out there,” Hood said. “The kids are fighting their hearts out and battling every day. They’re playing more together than any team we’ve had. You wouldn’t believe it.”

The defense, which has been Troup National’s strength going back to the District 1 tournament, was magnificent behind Harper.

In the fourth inning, P. T. Alford made a great catch with two outs and two Lee runners on base to shut the door on a potential rally.

Alford’s play was just one example of the great fielding the team has made during the tournament.

“(Lee County) was a real tough team,” Hood said. “Our team played really well.”

Troup is the only unbeaten team left on its side of the bracket, which is named the ‘red’ bracket.

Peachtree Ridge is on the ‘blue’ side, and the only way the two will meet is in a winner-take-all, best-of-three series potentially beginning Friday.

Troup definitely has its sights set on big things this tournament, which has just eight teams remaining.

“It’ll be a long haul – eight games (total in order to win it all),” said Troup assistant coach Kevin Howard. “It’s against really tough competition too. For our guys to be 3-0 right now is something really special.”