Troup wins on walk-off hit

Published 12:00 am Saturday, March 2, 2019

By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

It’s a walk-off win.

Colton Webb’s base hit in the bottom of the seventh inning gave the Troup Tigers a 5-4 victory over a quality Heard County team on Friday evening.

Heard County fought back from a 4-1 deficit to tie it in the sixth inning, but Troup rallied in its final at-bat to make sure it was a winning night.

Webb stepped to the plate with men on first and second, and he ripped the ball to left field, and courtesy runner Ethan Morton came home with the winning run.

Webb said his usual approach is to drive to drive the ball the opposite way, but when he got a pitch he could handle, he pulled it past the shortstop for the game-winner.

“He threw it over the middle, so I tried to put it in play and do what I could with it,” Webb said. “It turned out good.”

The winning rally began with one out when Cooper Doughman walked, and Caleb McCurry was hit by a pitch to put two men on.

Next up was Webb, and Morton scored easily on his base hit.

Troup went 2-1 this week, with home wins over Upson-Lee and Heard County and a road loss to Harris County.

“It feels good to get the wins,” Webb said. “You want to keep the momentum going.”

While it was a winning night for the Tigers, head coach Craig Garner felt his team lacked a killer instinct after getting the early lead.

“I felt like we got the 3-0 lead and kind of took our foot off the throttle a little bit,” Garner said. “That’s what we told them. We get up 3-0, and it’s like we took some at-bats off, and had some selfish at-bats. When you do that, that’s what happens. You let a team back in it, and the next thing you know they have the opportunity to beat you.”

Early on, it looked like the Tigers might enjoy an easy night at the office with three runs in the first inning.

Colby Williams led off with a base hit, Trace Meadows was hit by a pitch, and Cooper Doughman reached on a bunt single to load the bases.

Caleb McCurry, Webb and Cade Garner then followed with RBI singles, and the Tigers led 3-0.

After Heard County scored a single run in the top of the second, Troup answered with a run in the bottom of the inning.

Meadows reached on a single, and he later scored on a base hit by McCurry to give the Tigers a 4-1 lead.

Heard County scored single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to tie it.

On the mound, Jackson Knox got the win in relief of Cade Garner.

Knox entered the game in the top of the fifth with a man on and Troup’s lead down to 4-3.

Knox got a pair of strikeouts to end the threat and keep the Tigers on top.

Heard County scored the tying run in the top of the sixth without getting a hit, and Knox struck out the final batter with a man on base to keep it tied.

Knox enjoyed a perfect top of the seventh, and Troup won it in the bottom of the inning.

Troup will be back home on Monday to face Auburn.

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