For the first time in the short history of the baseball program at Troy high school the Trojans are headed to the 2-1A State tournament after winning the Regional title in Leavenworth on Wednesday against some tough competition.

The day started at Sportsman field in Leavenworth with the number one seed, Valley Falls Dragons making light work of the McLouth Bulldogs cruising to a 10-0 win in five innings, as Ty Jobbins earned the pitching win going all five innings of action. With the win the Dragons moved to the Regional championship game against the winner of Troy and Immaculata and were a game away from a return trip to State and the fifth trip in the last six years.

Troy jumped out early on Immaculata in the second Semifinal of the day taking an early 3-0 lead after the first inning with RBI singles by Cody Israel, Nathan Gaarder and Tucker Morris after the first two Trojans at the plate drew walks. The Raiders responded in the second inning with two runs to cut the lead to one, but Troy put one up of their own in the third to move the margin to 4-2 in their favor as Morris lead the inning off with a triple and scored. Looking to firmly take control Troy doubled their score in the fifth by batting around and plating four runs and added another in the sixth, before shutting the door in the top of the seventh to secure the 9-2 win.

Morris paced the Trojans offensively going 3-4 with a pair of triples, two RBI and two runs scored, while the Troy offense drew eight walks and scored half of them in the game. Tristan Speer picked up the win on the mound going seven innings, giving up just two runs on four hits and four walks, while striking out seven.

For Immaculata in the loss Connor Goetz pitched all six innings, striking out seven but gave up nine runs on seven hits and eight walks. Jaxon Qualley, Goetz, Nate Reardon and Dakota Fricke each had a hit for the Raiders, who ended their season with an 8-12 record.

With the win’s by Troy and Valley Falls that meant the two teams would meet up for the third time this season with the Dragons coming out on top the previous two.  But this time the game meant more and Troy took home the 8-6 win, claiming the Regional title.

Valley Falls took the early lead capitalizing on an early error by Troy in the first inning as Tyler Weishaar had an RBI single to plate Luke Burns, giving the Dragons 1-0 lead after one frame. The lead changed hands in the third and Troy batted around using three hits and three walks to plate three runs in the top of the third to take the 3-1 lead. Each team notched a run in the fourth inning making it 4-2. Jobbins went to the mound in the fourth for Valley Falls in place of starter Gates Glassel and retired the Trojans three up three down in the fifth and sixth, while the Dragons scored three runs in the fifth and one in the sixth to take the 6-4 lead going into the top of seventh.

Troy was down to their final three outs, but got the lead-off man on via a walk, then a deep fly out, followed by five straight hits plated four runs for Troy to gain the lead 8-6. The Trojans tied the game with a balk call on a try by Collin Jasper to steal home then added two more runs after that. In the bottom of the seventh, the Dragons first two batters recorded outs, then Zac Allen gave Valley Falls a base runner with a two-out double, but the threat ended there as Troy shut the door to gain the 8-6 win.

Valley Falls in the loss was led by Burns and Allen offensively, as Burns was 2-4 with three runs scored and Allen was 2-3 with two doubles and an RBI. With the loss the Dragons closed out a strong baseball season 22-1, winning the Northeast Kansas League this year.

Troy with the win moved to 19-3 on the season, avenging two losses this season to Valley Falls and earning a spot at the 2-1A State baseball tournament. Trojans offense was once again led by Morris who was 2-3 with three RBI, a walk and run scored, while Gaarder went the distance to get the pitching win with 106 pitches over 7 innings.

The Trojans, in just their fourth year of high school baseball, now turn their attention to the 2-1A State competition in Great Bend starting next Thursday.