BEARVILLE — Pierce County rode the combined twohit pitching effort of three pitchers to complete a perfect Region 3-AA run here Friday in a 9-2 victory over visiting Cook.
Brantley Willis hurled four innings of two-hit ball, allowing two runs, one earned, with two strikeouts and a walk. Kolton Brogdon (one inning) and Emmitt Hall (two innings) followed with three shutout innings of no-hit ball. Both Brogdon and Hall hit a batter.
The second-ranked Bears (21-3 overall, 12-0 region), winners of 14 straight, finished off its first unbeaten region mark since posting a 19-0 record during a 28-4 campaign in 2014-15, which included an 18-game winning streak.
Pierce County plays twice on the road in the next to last week of the regular season. The Bears traveled Tuesday, April 7 to Brooklet to face Southeast Bulloch. PCHS won the February 27 meeting 11-1.
The Bears go to Ludowici today (Wednesday, April 8) to face Long County at 4 p.m., in the last road game of the season. Pierce County opened the season with a 4-1 home victory February 9.
PCHS closes out the season against a pair of Region 2 DII Top 10 programs at home with 6 p.m. starts. Defending champion and current top-ranked Lanier County visits Thursday, April 16. Sixth-ranked Clinch County visits April 17 Friday in Bearville, Pierce County scored the first four runs over the opening two innings and finished off the scoring with a five-run fifth, handing the Hornets (12-10, 27) a third consecutive loss after winning five of six entering the matchup.
PCHS plated a run in the first inning and never looked back. Chance Williams (1-for-2) was hit by the second offering of the inning. He stole second ahead of a walk to Beck Hodges (2-for-3).
The duo pulled off a double steal ahead of consecutive twoout walks to Dylan Johnson and Willis (1-for-2). The walk to Willis forced home Williams for a 1-0 advantage.
The Bears tacked on three runs in the second inning to open up a 4-0 lead. Bryson Smith led off with an infield hit with Grayson Arington following with a sacrifice bunt.
After a four-pitch walk to Williams and a passed ball moved the runners up 90 feet, Hodges lined a runscoring single to center, and Jack McClellan lifted an ensuing sacrifice fly to center scoring Hodges for a 3-0 lead. Jonathan Stone’s (2for-4) first-pitch, run-scoring double capped the uprising.
Cook plated two runs in the third against Osbourne on a run-scoring single and one-out, sacrifice fly, cutting the deficit in half to 4-2.
The Bears put the game away with a five-run fifth loading the bases following the first out with a Stone single and consecutive walks to Johnson and Willis.
Smith ripped a two-out, first-pitch, bases clearing double, extending the PCHS lead to 7-2. A line drive single by Arington, who raced to second on the throw to third, was followed by a Williams’ first-pitch, two-run single for the final runs.
Hall followed a 1-2-3 sixth pitching around an error and hit batter in the seventh before the final out was recorded.
