CANEY BAY — Clark Carter’s one-out, bases loaded walk in the bottom of the third inning forced home the first of four runs breaking a scoreless tie to start Brantley County on its way to a 10-0 six-inning victory and Region 1-A threegame sweep of Bacon County here Friday.
The three-game sweep by the Herons (12-14 overall, 78 region) was their second after taking down Berrien earlier. The loss for the Red Raiders (7-18, 1-14) was their seventh in a row.
Brantley County closes out the regular season this week with a non-region tilt with Long County and season- ending series with Jeff Davis. BCHS hosted the Blue Tide Monday, April 13 to start the week.
The Herons traveled Tuesday, April 14 to Hazelhurst in the opener of the three-game series. The Yellow Jackets visit Thursday, April 16 with the Friday, April 17 finale back in Hazlehurst.
Bacon County stranded six runners over its first three at bats against Rylee Young (6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 K, 5 BB), who recorded a shortened complete game outing.
Young walked three batters in the first inning, the last following a sacrifice bunt to load the bases. He surrendered a leadoff single and a two-out single in the second frame. Young pitched around a leadoff error to start the third.
Brantley County finally solved Red Raider starter Nolan Ledbetter (3.1 IP, 4 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 3 K, 7 BB) starting the third inning after the first six batters were retired in order.
Cain Roberson led off with a four-pitch walk, the first of seven walks issued by Ledbetter over the next 14 batters he faced. Dennis Raulerson (2-for-3) followed with a single.
Consecutive one-out walks to Gavin Grafford (1for-3) first loading the bases, and Carter forced home the only run Young would need. Kaden Hendrix’s hustle broke up a potential inning-ending doubleplay with Raulerson scoring for a 2-0 lead.
A two-out walk to Carson Coger (1-for-3) kept the inning alive re-loading the bases. Grafford stole home on a triple steal with Hendrix racing home on an errant throw to third upping the lead to 4-0.
After Young left two Red Raiders stranded in the fourth, Brantley County pushed across four runs in the bottom of the inning to build an 8-0 advantage.
The first six batters reached with four scoring with one picked off. Roberson walked with singles by Raulerson and Eli Nielson (1-for-2) loading the bases with one out.
A single by Grafford plated Roberson with the first run. A walk to Carter forced home Raulerson for a 6-0 lead. Hendrix, after fouling off a pair of 1-2 pitches, lined a two-run single for an eight-run lead.
BCHS extended the margin to 9-0 with a run in the fifth. Eli Thomas drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a passed ball, move to third on a groundout and scored on Raulerson’s sacrifice fly to right.
After Young pitched around two walks to escape unscatched in the top of the sixth, Coger ended the game in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out, solo homer to left — his second dinger of the series.
