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TROJANS SECURE RUNNER UP HARDWARE IN THE USSSA SOUTH GEORGIA STATE TOURNAMENT!
Or Is It "Always a Bridesmaid, Never A Bride?"

Big Papi Gets His Second Win in Twelve Hours As East Cobb Trojans Power Past Rebels Baseball, 9-6

Starting pitcher David Chabut blanked the Rebels in the first inning but the Trojans were unable to pick up any runs despite hard hitting by Austin Richards, Austin Stanley and Taylor Giles as good fielding by the Rebels kept the Trojans off the board. Still going strong in the second inning, David blanked the Rebels again.  No one can say it better than Ven Pappu who, after Tanner Schneider hit a ground rule double over the right field wall, "that's the start of good things to come.". Catcher Kyle Garrard brought Tanner in with a shot to the wall and, after a hit by streaking Jonny Spratt, hot hitting Tyler Heinrichs hit another ground rule double to pick up two RBIs. With the third ground rule double of the inning, a Trojans record, Anand Pappu continued to hit the ball hard and brought in Tyler to take the score to 4-0 after two innings.

Rebels Baseball managed to score a run off David with nice hitting at the heart of their order, but the Trojan defense kept the damage down to a single run.  Unfortunately, the top of the fourth was a different story as the Rebels picked up four runs until reliever Anand Pappu was finally able to stop the bleeding and Trojans entered the bottom of the fourth down 5-4. A nice at bat and steal by Devin McCleskey followed by Kyle's shot down the third base line tied the game at 5-5 going into the fifth inning. After holding the Rebels down in the top of fifth, Anand came up to bat and brought Tyler home for a 6-5 lead. In a David versus Goliath matchup, David Chabut walked to get two men on with one out and Austin Richards put down a picture perfect bunt to bring in David followed by Mark Ankerholz scoring on Austin Stanley's sacrifice. Following Taylor Giles blast, Tanner Schneider rocked another shot to the wall and managed to get to second base despite the fierce wind resistance caused by the strange flat-billed cap on his head. Nice hitting by the Trojans enabled them to take back the lead, 9-4 going into the final inning and the boys held on to win 9-6 on a throw out at second by catcher Kyle Garrard.  Anand picked up his second win in his last two starts and led the Trojans into the semifinals. 

Heading into the semifinals against the Oregon Park Red Sox, the Trojans look to make their third championship game in the past five tournaments.

A Walk-Off Walk By Cameron Gregory Trots The East Cobb Trojans Past The Oregon Park Red Sox In Extra Innings, Again - Whew!

Taylor Giles took the mound in the first inning and blanked the Red Sox with solid pitching. David Chabut led off for the home team Trojans and nearly knocked out his second homer of the season, but instead had his longest single of the year. Taylor brought home David with a sacrifice RBI and took a 1-0 lead back to mound in the second. Unfortunately for Taylor, and for the second day in a row, a Red Sox batter hit one back up the middle and plunked him in the chest. Back on the rubber, a tough Taylor Giles got the next two Red Sox batters out and picked up his third out on a nice catch by Cameron Gregory as he crashed into Devin McCleskey but held onto the ball. Speaking of Devin, the "D-Train" pounded an eye-level fast ball to the right field wall to start off the bottom of the second inning in style. Unfortunately, a great double play by the excellent Red Sox shortstop shut down the inning and the Trojans held a slim 1-0 lead going into the third.  Battered and beaten, our own Trojan warrior - Taylor Giles - came back to the mound recorded the first two outs, caused a weak dribbler for a small hit and struck out the last batter to take a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the third.  Tyler Heinrichs led the Trojans off with another double, stole third and was brought home on a towering sacrifice fly to the warning track by Anand Pappu. As his father would say, "hitting the ball hard is good". Still the Trojans were only able to secure two runs through three innings and the game remained close at 2-0 going into the fourth inning. With solid batting the Red Sox broke the ice in the fourth and tied the game 2-2. With nice pitching and rock solid fielding by Mark Ankerholz at second base and Cameron Gregory at shortstop, Taylor recorded a 1-2-3 inning on five pitches but the Trojans couldn't put any runs on the board. The Red Sox didn't have the same problem and scored two runs to go up 4-2 going into the bottom of the final inning. Lead off batter Tyler Heinrichs managed a hard hit single and stole around to third, but all that running was not necessary. Anand Pappu came up to the plate next and jacked another homerun against the Red Sox to tie the game 4-4 and take the boys to yet another extra inning affair against this tough rival.  The Red Sox picked up one run to take a 5-4 lead, but the Trojans battled back and Taylor Giles hit a clutch two out single to score Mark Ankerholz, who was advanced on a beautiful bunt by Austin Richards, and even the score at 5-5. Tanner Schneider then hit a ball that the crowd was sure was clearing the fence (but it didn't) and put runners on the corners. The Red Sox intentionally walked Devin McCleskey to load the bases, bringing Cameron Gregory to bat. The crowd was expecting Cameron "The Target" Gregory to get hit with the ball and win the game, instead he took four straight balls and scored a walk-off walk taking the Trojans "strolling" into the championship. This is the second straight extra inning victory by the Trojans over a respected opponent in the Oregon Park Red Sox.

The Trojans head to the championship in a face-off of the top two seeds and take on number one seeded North Gwinnett Bulldogs.

East Cobb Trojans Lose By One Run, 5-4, To The North Gwinnett Bulldogs In The Championship Game

Coming out of the gate, the East Cobb Trojans put a run on the board with a nice hit by Austin Richards followed by a RBI single by the original "Bash Brother" Tanner Schneider. Although the Trojans recorded a nice 6-4-3 (Tanner to Mark Ankerholz to a stretching Anand Pappu) double play to get two outs with no runners on, starting pitcher Devin McCleskey couldn't seem to get a break and a couple of flubbed plays later and hard hitting by the Bulldogs led the Trojans to a 4-1 deficit after one inning. Good hitting by Cameron Gregory with a rocket to right field and Jonny Spratt knocking in Cameron gave the Trojans a run back. Tyler Heinrichs hit his third ground rule double of the tournament with another blast to left field, but the Trojans were not able to pick him up and the boys left the inning down 4-2. Devin came out and threw with purpose in the bottom of the second to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard. The boys came to play in third inning and Mark Ankerholz, David Chabut and Taylor Giles had nice hits to pick up a run and bring the Trojans within one run, 4-3, which Tanner turned into a 4-4 tie after picking up his second clutch two-out RBI of the game.  Running like a gazelle, Kyle Garrard even had a (gas powered?) stolen base. After giving up one run in the bottom of the fourth the Trojans entered the fifth inning hitting hard but down one run, 5-4. Anand hit a single and stole second to get our leadoff runner in scoring position and Mark Ankerholz put the ball in play to reach first and get runners at the corners, but an unlucky pop-up bunt caused a double play and a shot to the wall by Austin Richards was caught at the fence to end the rally. Going into the final inning down 5-4, there is no one else the Trojans would have rather had up with two outs than Tanner Schneider (who had two, two-out RBIs in this game), but after battling off multiple pitches our slugger was sadly retired.

The Trojans earn the runner up hardware in their fourth tournament this season and surpass an all-time win record for the team. Let's win the next one!

Great weekend Trojans!!!!

East Cobb Trojans' Anand Pappu One Hits Rebels Baseball And Secures 16-1 Victory

Leadoff hitter David Chabut started the game off with a double to the wall and was followed on base by Austin Richards and Austin Stanley. Taylor Giles brought in the third run of the inning with a ground rule double, on a blast that nearly cleared the fence on the fly. Starting pitcher Anand Pappu brought the heat and looked sharp in the first, striking out the first three batters with nasty stuff. Then, with Johnny Spratt on third after another nice hit and Tyler Heinrichs on at second after nearly taking off the third baseman's head, the Big Pappu came to bat - and went yard in a big way with a three run blast that left Forsyth County far behind.  Rumors are flying that Anand's jump after the ball sailed over the wall was his highest vertical leap to date.

Anand kept pitching well and his only runner through two innings was the poor Rebels player who he hit, while recording four strikeouts and two weak ground outs, and no hits. After the Trojans first three turns at bat, the boys took a 15-0 lead to the bottom of the third and put the ball back in Anand's hands. Unfortunately, the Rebels were able to break up the no hitter with a blooper and scored a run to get to 15-1 and avoid the run-rule loss. Tanner Schneider made the Rebels pay for the extra inning by taking the first pitch yard, going deep over the center field wall and putting the Trojans up 16-1.  Anand came back out and put his version of a Rebel Yell on the Rebels recording three straight outs, with two strikeouts, and securing the complete game, one-hit,  run-rule victory earning the Trojans the second seed in bracket play with a 2-0 record in pool play.

GO TROJANS!!!!!!

East Cobb Trojans Beat Oregon Park Red Sox In Extra Innings

Starting Pitcher Taylor Giles, helped by a snow cone catch by Tyler Heinrichs, kept the Oregon Park Red Sox to one run in the first inning. Helping himself out, Taylor batted in the first run of the game scoring hot hitting Austin Richards. Tied 1-1 after one, Taylor kept the Red Sox off the board in the second with another nicely pitched inning. Austin Stanley rocked a shot to left and was brought home by Cameron Gregory's nice hit down the third base line, followed by a run-scoring double by Tyler. Patient batting by Anand Pappu and Mark Ankerholz led to another run on consecutive walks.  Leadoff hitter David Chabut kept the inning going and picked up Tyler with a nice single taking a 5-1 lead into the third inning.  Mark and Anand made a very, very nice play to apparently turn two, but the umpires thought differently and the Red Sox were able to get a run and bring the score to 5-2 after two and a half innings.

Slugger Tanner Schneider had the first hit of the third inning and, after making his way to third, STOLE HOME. Spectators describe a blur of dust and dirt as he burned his way home to put the Trojans up 6-2. Tanner continued his hot ways and recorded three outs on four batters as the Trojans reliever. Going into the fifth inning the boys held a nice, but not comfortable 7-2 lead that went to 7-3 after Mark got another tough call on his second near double play of the day. The last out of the fifth was picked up by catcher Kyle Garrard on a nice throw down to first.

In what has been the Trojans downfall in their last two tournaments, they gave up lots of runs in what should have been the final inning and let the scrappy Red Sox tie the game 7-7 in the top of the sixth. Mark finally got his double play to get the first two outs (and he recorded the third out) of the first extra inning behind closer Devin McCleskey (who, in this game, hit two deep line drive outs about 5 feet short of home runs). In the bottom of the seventh, Tyler picked up a nice hit advancing Cameron to third. With the winning run on third, the Red Sox intentionally walked Big Papi Pappu to load the bases for Mark Ankerholz. Marky Mark delivered Good Vibrations with his walk-off bunt single and scored Funky Bunch member, Cameron Gregory, to win the game 8-7.

Saturday 6/13 - Pool Play
Collins Hill Eagles Green - 13, Shiloh RoughRiders - 14
Collins Hill Eagles Green - 11, Hobgood Extreme - 7
North Gwinnett Bulldogs Black - 10, Shiloh RoughRiders - 1
North Gwinnett Bulldogs Black - 9, Hobgood Extreme - 0
East Cobb Trojans - 8, Oregon Park Red Sox - 7
Oregon Park Red Sox - 13, Rebels Baseball - 7
East Cobb Trojans - 16, Rebels Baseball - 1

Sunday 6/14 - Bracket Play
Seed #4: Collins Hill Eagles Green - 4, Seed #5: Shiloh RoughRiders -9
Seed #3: Oregon Park Red Sox - 3, Seed #6: Hobgood Extreme - 0
Seed #2: East Cobb Trojans - 9, Seed #7: Rebels Baseball - 5
Seed #1: North Gwinnett Bulldogs Black - 5, Shiloh RoughRiders - 4
East Cobb Trojans - 6, Oregon Park Red Sox - 5
Championship Game: East Cobb Trojans - 4, North Gwinnett Bulldogs Black - 5