By Robert Griffin

Sports Writer

Some people believe in luck, or that luck is on their side.

They believe that horseshoes, four-leaf clovers, lucky underwear, or lucky numbers help them get that extra edge.

For the Troup High Tigers, the number eight was not a lucky number.

The team has not played a game since March 8, and in its first game back after an eight-day layoff, the Tigers committed eight errors in a 12-4 loss to the McIntosh Chiefs.

“We have had eight days off, and it affects everyone the same,” said Troup coach Craig Garner, “but anytime you have eight errors in a ball game, and then give them three more free bases on top of that, you don’t win too many games, and that’s it in a nutshell.”

The Tigers played the Chiefs closely until the top of the third inning when things came apart.

A pop fly soared off the bat of a Chief player and ended up coming to rest in the middle of a triangle of Tiger players.

Overthrown balls to first base, missed ground balls, and pitches missing the catcher, showed the mental lapses that and extended period of time off brings to a team.

At the end of the half inning, the Tigers found themselves down five runs.

Starting pitcher Cody Sheffield got one of those runs back in the bottom of the third when he sent a fastball over the left field fence for a solo home run.

Sheffield also had an RBI double in the game, and Brandon Butts knocked in another run with a single

Junior Anthony Robinson took over in relief of Sheffield in the top of the fourth and continued until the end of the game.

The final nail in the coffin of Troup came in the top of the seventh inning when Chief center fielder Dwight Smith blasted a grand slam into the trees in right field to put the Chiefs up 12-2.

The Tigers scratched across two runs in the bottom of the inning, but in the end it wasn’t enough to win.

“We aren’t playing very good,” said Garner. “Defensively we are not backing our pitchers up, and we are making them throw too many pitches. We’re just not a very good ball team right now, it’s as simple as that.”

The road ahead for the Tigers is not going to get any easier.

Tonight they travel to Cartersville to square off against the Cartersville High School Hurricanes, who won the Class AAA state title a year ago.

“We are going to have to play some better baseball,” Garner said, “or it’s going to be ugly.”