By Robert Griffin

Sports Writer

COVINGTON – The wait was worth it.

After two days of inclement weather, the Troup County 13-year-old all stars finally got a chance to play a complete game on Wednesday, and they made the most of it, beating Columbia County 8-6 to take the Dixie Boys Baseball state crown.

For most of the players on the Troup team, it was the second state title in a row, since many of the players were on the 11-12-year-old team that won state a year ago.

“It feels better than last year,” head coach Huey Hood said. “Columbia is a defending state champion. Last year was tough with 16 teams competing, but you can’t take anything away from what these kids did today and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

Jonathan Foster, one of the players from last year’s championship team, came through in a big way, going 3-for-4 with two home runs and five RBIs.

“It felt really good to be able to help my team out like that,” Foster said.

Before facing Columbia, Troup had to complete a game against Newton County that began on Tuesday but was postponed because of rain.

The game was postponed in the bottom of the third inning with Troup leading by a score of 5-1.

Logan Hood pitched Tuesday night and recorded four strikeouts while giving up one run. Jeremy Harper also added a big solo home run in the game to set the pace for Troup.

Starting off the day in the hot noon sun, Troup took the field and didn’t miss a beat, taking only two more innings to dispatch Newton County 12-2.

Harper came in and pitched the last two innings for the team.

After a quick bite to eat and some time away from the heat, Troup returned to the field for the championship game.

Hood felt the team came out a little lackluster for the first 2 1/2 innings.

“It takes a little bit for a team to get back up again after taking a break,” Hood said. “These guys are fighters though, and they showed what they are made of.”

Going into the bottom of the third inning, Troup was down 5-0 and it seemed likely that it would take another day and another game to decide the championship.

As Troup showed earlier in the tournament, though, it has the ability to bounce back. On Sunday, Troup was down by two runs heading into the final inning, but it rallied for three runs to beat Columbia.

“These boys are resilient,” Hood said. “I mean after we got down after the third inning I had three kids come up to me and say that we where not going to lose. You could tell by the things that they were doing on the field that they wouldn’t let themselves lose.”

Harper came into the game in the third inning and put in four solid innings of work on the mound for Troup.

In the bottom of the third, Troup broke out.

Colby Freeman led off the inning with a single to right field, which was followed up by a Perry Keith double.

Foster then stepped up and belted a three-run home run over the fence in left center, which cleared the Troup bench, and re-invigorated the team.

Chase Freeman singled, Harper walked, and a run later scored on an error.

After Columbia scored once in the top of the fourth, Troup added four more runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead.

Coleman Gaddy led off the inning by reaching first on an error by Columbia.

Gaddy was brought home on the next play when Hakeem Stargell laid down a well-placed bunt, and another run scored on an error, and Troup was up 6-5.

Colby Freeman followed up with a double placing , and Will Smith’s bunt brought Stargell home.

Up to the plate stepped Foster, who belted a two-run home run to pad the lead.

Troup didn’t score again, but with Harper doing the job on the mound, the eight runs were enough.

As the team rallied outside of it’s dugout before heading out for the top of the seventh inning, Hood asked Harper if he was good to go out on the mound and finish off the game.

Cracking a smile, Harper looked at his coach and said, “I want this.”

Harper took to the mound and led the team to a 1-2-3 inning sealing the state title.

“I wasn’t too nervous out there,” Harper said. “I knew that I had a great defense behind me.”

Hood said that it was a “total team effort” that helped his squad win the state championship.

“Everybody did something out there to help us win,” he said. “Will Smith and Hakeem Stargell laid down two great bunts for us and Jeremy Harper came in and pitched some great innings for us. We are going to represent the state of Georgia at the World Series and that’s awesome.”