By Kevin Eckleberry

Sports Editor

ENTERPRISE, Ala. - Playing a late-night ballgame wasn’t a problem for the Troup County all-stars.

Troup was supposed to take the field at 7 p.m. for its second game in the Junior Dixie Boys World Series, but because of rain, the game with Virginia didn’t begin until close to 10 p.m. on Sunday.

When the game finally started, Troup ran roughshod over the team from Halifax County, rolling to a 13-3 victory to improve to 2-0.

Troup, which beat Tennessee 3-2 on Saturday, plays Troy (Ala.) at 1 p.m. today in a winner’s bracket game.

Troup plays again today at 7 p.m.

“That was a fun ballgame,” Troup coach Andy Buchanan said. “They were more like themselves. They played much better (than Saturday).”

The game lasted just five of the scheduled seven innings because of the mercy rule.

Caleb Buchanan was the starting and winning pitcher, throwing 4 1/3 innings.

Buchanan gave up three hits and one earned run with five strikeouts.

Dre Leonard got the game’s final two outs.

Buchanan was also a star at the plate with three hits, including two doubles.

Jaylen Colton had two hits and scored three runs, while Matt Morton had two hits and an RBI.

John Patterson added two hits with a triple, and he scored twice.

Dustin Vaught, Carson Aldridge and Clayton Vaught each had one hit, while Josh Fogle walked and drove in a run.

Troup scored three runs in the first, two in the second, four in the third, two in the fourth and two in the fifth.

“The boys played great and really shook off (Saturday’s) poor hitting performance to control this game from the first inning,” Buchanan said.

While there was no suspense Sunday, that wasn’t the case on Saturday when Troup survived a one-run tussle with Tennessee.

That game was all about pitching and defense, with a few timely hits thrown in.

Starting pitcher Matt Morton was brilliant, throwing five innings of no-hit baseball with 11 strikeouts.

Dustin Vaught came in and pitched the final two innings to get the save.

Tennessee had the tying run on third in the seventh and final inning, but Vaught struck out the final batter on a called third strike to end the game.

“The inning before that, I’d struck out the last batter on the same pitch,” Vaught said. ” I kept on waiting on that pitch.”

Tennessee scored in the top of the fifth to take the lead

Morton struck out the side in the inning, but Tennessee’s Clayton Addison scored on a double steal to give his team a 1-0 lead.

Tennessee took advantage of a walk, and a wild pitch on a third strike that kept the inning alive.

Troup bounced right back in the bottom of the inning, though.

Colton jump-started the three-run rally with a base hit.

It looked like the inning wasn’t going anywhere when the next two Troup hitters made outs, but Dustin Vaught came through with a bloop single to left field to bring Colton in with the tying run.

Leonard then followed with a double over the right fielder’s head to give Troup a 3-1 lead.

Tennessee threatened to tie it or take the lead when it got back-to-back hits in the seventh.

An error allowed Tennessee to get within a run, and the tying run was just one base away when Vaught ended the suspense with his strikeout.

Vaught’s clutch pitching effort alowed Morton, who said it was “the best game I’ve ever pitched,” to earn the victory.

“I was a little nervous, but I started throwing strikes and the defense helped a lot,” Morton said.

Morton pointed to one play in particular, a running catch by Leonard in center field that saved a double in the fourth inning.

Troup also got a nice diving catch by Colton for the first out in the seventh inning.