SAVANNAH — Slade Sweat, Walker Hudson and Seth Suess each hit two-run homers leading No. 10 Ware County to a Region 1-AAAA doubleheader split here Tuesday with an 11-5 win against No. 2 Benedictine.
The Gators (17-8 overall, 10-1 region), who had their 14-game winning streak snapped in the April 7 opener, broke a 4all tie in the fifth on Landon Smallwood’s (3-for-4) two-out, two-run double.
Ware County overcame a 2-0 deficit with a fourrun third, broke the 4-all deadlock in the fifth, and scored five times in the sixth to open up a sevenrun advantage.
Tanner Larisey (7 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 K, 2 BB, 2 HBP), who quieted the Cadets’ bats, was the beneficiary of the uprising, hurling his first career complete game. The righthander needed 104 pitches to complete what he started.
Benedictine broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the third scoring on a one-out, two-run homer by Omari Burse (2-for-3) marking a second straight 2-0 lead in the twinbill.
The Gators followed getting a pair of two-run homers by Sweat (1-for-4) and Hudson (1-for-4) in the top of the fourth to grab a 4-2 lead.
Sweat’s homer, his eighth of the season, — all coming over the last eight games — followed a leadoff single by Suess (2-for-3) off Colvin Proto (4.2 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 4 K, 1 BB, 1 HBP). Hudson’s first dinger of the season with one out, came two batters after Smallwood lined a single up the middle.
BC responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning. A single, walk and hit batter loaded the bases with nobody out. A sacrifice fly and a runscoring single followed to knot the score at 4-apiece.
Ware County took the lead for good in its half of the fifth. Garrison Joyner (1-for-2) was hit to start the inning. A walk to Collin Crawford put two runners on with nobody out.
Two quick outs followed before Sweat reached on an error extending the inning. Smallwood followed two pitches later with the go-ahead two-run double for a 6-4 lead.
After Larisey pitched around a leadoff single in the bottom half of the inning, the Gators blew the game open with a five-run sixth. Larisey reached on a one-out error and was removed for courtesy runner Brodie Burchette.
Following a Keaton Holloway walk, both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Joyner’s ensuing single plated Burchett with the first run of the inning.
A squeeze bunt by Crawford one pitch later scored Holloway, upping the Ware County advantage to 8-4. Suess blasted his third homer of the season two pitches later, extending the margin to 10-4.
Sweat’s ensuing grounder was booted. After stealing second, he raced home on Smallwood’s ensuing base hit off an 0-2 pitch for the 114 lead.
The Cadets scored a final run in the bottom of the seventh on a sacrifice fly that followed a leadoff double and a passed ball.
