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By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

It’s been a winning formula for the Troup Tigers.

During the Tigers’ impressive start to the season, the pitching has been exceptional, the defense has been outstanding, and the offense has come through with some timely hits.

That pattern continued on Monday, with Troup holding off Trinity Christian 4-2 in its first home game of the regular season to improve to 5-1.

It was the fourth straight win for Troup, which won all three of its games at the LakePoint complex in Emerson over the weekend.

“We have played really good baseball against some quality competition, so we’re excited,” said Troup head coach Tanner Glisson.

The Tigers did all of their scoring in the first two innings.

After Trinity Christian took the lead with a run in the top of the first inning, Troup answered with a run in the bottom of the inning to tie it.

Troup took the lead with three runs in the bottom of the second, with Devon Murphy coming through with a two-run single, and Trinity Christian completed the scoring with a single run in the top of the third inning.

Ethan Morton got the start for Troup and pitched 3 1/3 innings, and he gave up two runs on three hits while striking out five.

Daniel Martin, despite dealing with a hand injury, pitched 2 2/3 shutout innings while striking out six and not walking anyone.

Freshman Tripp Cummings finished things off with a scoreless seventh inning to earn the save.

“That was a great performance, and we were able to finish it with a freshman on the mound,” Glisson said. “We were down some pitchers after playing three games (at LakePoint).”

Martin hurt his hand over the weekend, but he was still able to pitch, and he came through with a clutch performance in a tight game.

“I went and saw the trainer, and they said it could have been a tear. Luckily enough it wasn’t,” Martin said.

While Martin is in some discomfort, he was glad to be able to contribute knowing his teammates were relying on him.

“When you’re not 100 percent, you absolutely still try it,” Martin said.

Offensively, the Tigers did all of their damage in the first two innings.

In the bottom of the first, Murphy reached on a two-out single, and after Reed Morris was hit by a pitch, Mosley’s RBI single tied the score at 1-1.

The Tigers grabbed the lead with three runs in the second inning.

Brett Haynes led off with a single and Mason Atkinson walked, and two batters later, Colton Webb’s RBI groundout gave Troup the lead. After Morton was hit by a pitch, Murphy’s lined the ball into the outfield for a two-run single, and Troup had a 4-1 lead.

Trinity Christian scored a run in the top of the third, but Morton got a strikeout to end that threat and limit the damage.

Trinity Christian got two base runners on in the fourth inning before coming up empty, and it only had one base runner over the final three innings.

Murphy finished with three hits for Troup, and Mosley, Josh McDonald and Haynes had one hit apiece.

Troup has home games against Callaway on Wednesday and Glenwood on Friday.