After dropping a district contest to Milan earlier in the regular season, Dyersburg head coach Tom Mathis had reason for concern when his Trojan baseball squad faced the Bulldogs in their first game of the District 13-AA tournament being held at DHS.

The concern lasted for just one inning.

After challenging the squad to come out and play the way they are capable, the members of the Black and Gold responded by making a statement against Milan, winning the contest, 12-0, in five innings.

While Dyersburg (26-9) was pounding out hits and benefitting from Bulldog miscues, right-hander Matt Chandler was barely giving his teammates time to catch their breath. The senior faced just 18 batters in five complete innings, with no Bulldog base runner making it past second base during the contest.

"Matt brought his 'A' game today and really looked comfortable out there. He was able to keep his pitch-count down in case we need him again, the defense played flawless behind him, and overall he just looked really good," said Mathis afterward.

After Chandler made quick work of the Bulldogs in the top of the first, his teammates were about to welcome Milan to the tournament.

Michael Brown led off the first with a deep shot off Milan's Alex Jackson for a double, advancing to third on a throwing error before Les Smith walked on four pitches to put runners at first and third.

With one out, Chandler helped the cause with a sac fly to left to plate Brown from third. Just when it appeared Milan would get out of the inning virtually unscathed, the wheels were about to come off.

Adam Smith walked before Bryson Horner was hit by a pitch to bring Austin Crisp to the dish with two aboard. The junior responded with a 2-RBI single up the middle for a 3-0 advantage as the Trojans chased Milan's Jackson after two-thirds of an inning.

With two aboard, Dyersburg's Joey Wilder connected on the first of three hits on the day, scoring Horner and Crisp with a laser to left-center. Jesse McNeil then beat out an infield single to keep the inning alive. With Wilder at third, Zane Mathis, pinch-running for McNeil, darted for second. When the dust settled, Wilder slid in safely at home as the Trojans were on top, 6-0 at the end of the first inning.

"We wanted to come out, put the ball in play, and makes some things happen," added Mathis. "We hadn't played since Monday and we were chomping at the bit to get our cleats dirty. Take your hat off to Milan, they have a quality club, but we just came out to play today and we needed a start like this."

Dyersburg added five runs in the second and one more in the third, ending the game in the fifth with the 10-run rule.

"I told the guys that this was a good game all the way around. Everybody in the dugout and stayed in it, our offense and defense was clicking, and today was a good day but we have a long way yet to go to get to where we want to be," added Mathis.

Dyersburg will play the winner between DCHS and Crockett County on Monday night at 7 p.m. Results of the contest were unavailable due to an early press time.