Troup to face Hemphill in Area contest
Tigers defeat Elks for bi-district title

The Tigers varsity baseball teams celebrates its bi-district championship after defeating Elkhart in a best-of-three series (2-0). Pictured, left to right, are (front) Jordon Jackson, Raymond Wavrusa, (second row) Jared Ayres, Adam Voigt, Daniel Dick, Preston Pittinger, Austin Braswell, Chance Tosh, Coach Jake Jackson, (back) Coach Cal Sparks, Austin Duren, Curt Lindsey, Caleb Gibson, Ryan Nichols, Austin Claiborne, Cody Deese, Nick Reeves and Coach Adam Thomas.

The Tigers survived a late rally by Elkhart in game two of their best-of-three meeting to advance to the round of Area to meet Hemphill.

The first game will be 6 p.m. Friday at Carthage, with game two 1 p.m. Saturday at Central Pollock. Game three will follow if necessary.

After winning handily, 18-4, in game one, Troup found itself down early in game two when the Elks earned a firstinning 1-0 lead.

The Tigers then scored four runs at their first at-bat to go up 4-1.

Elkhart closed to within two after a homer in the top of the third inning.

The Tigers responded with three runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 7-2 advantage.

Photo courtesy Jody Booth Adam Voigt slides safely into home to score a run for the Tigers in their two-game sweep of Elkhart.

Facing their last chance at the plate, the Elks managed three runs before stranding a runner at third on the final out, giving Troup the 7-5 win and the bidistrict championship.

"Against Elkhart, we continued to be solid defensively and pitched fairly well, but the key was our ability to put the ball in play and eliminate strikeouts," said head coach Cal Sparks. "Hopefully we can continue with this same approach for Hemphill."

Hemphill earned the District 23-2A title with a perfect 13-0 record.

"Their strength as a team is that they hit the ball really well from the top of the lineup to the bottom," said Sparks. "Both their defense and pitching has been solid, but they really hang their hat on their ability to hit and score a lot of runs."