Region title on the line against No. 2 ranked Wayne Co.
Slade Sweat blasted three homers, including a grandslam, and drove in eight runs helping lead Ware County to a threegame sweep of Benedictine.
Sweat went 6-for-11 in the series with two hits in each game. He blasted two homers in Game 1 driving in three runs. Sweat hit a homer and drove home five runs in Game 2.
The sweep sets up a Region 1-AAAA championship matchup with Wayne County in the final week of the regular season. Ware County holds a one-game lead over the Yellow Jackets.
The Gators (23-2 overall, 12-0 region), winners in 15 of their last 16 games while allowing just 2.1 runs during that time, are ranked second in the GHSA power rankings and third by MaxPreps. The Yellow Jackets (23-4, 11-1) are ranked second by MaxPreps and third in the power rankings.
The series opener was Tuesday, April 14 in Jesup. Game 2 shifts to the Ware County campus Thursday, April 17 at 6 p.m. The series finale is Friday, April 18 in Jesup at 6 p.m.
The Gators bounced back from having their 13game winning streak snapped by Peach County with a series opening 9-1 victory Tuesday, April 8 in Savannah over the Cadets (12-15, 5-7), who dropped their fourth straight game. BC was ranked 20th by MaxPreps and 13th in the power rankings.
The two teams played a doubleheader Thursday, April 10 at WCHS with the Gators taking the opener 9-2. They followed with 74 victory in the nightcap.
The first round best-ofthree Class 5A playoff series begin Wednesday, April 23 with a doubleheader. “If” games are scheduled for Thursday, April 24.
Region 1 will square off against Region 5 which features MaxPreps fourthranked St. Pius X and seventh- ranked Marist as the top two seeds. Druid Hills, Southwest DeKalb and Northview are battling for the other two spots.
Game 1 No. 3 Gators ............9 No. 13 Benedictine ...1
SAVANNAH — Seth Suess backed his own sixhit complete game performance going 3-for-3 with two homers and three RBIs at the plate leading the Gators to the series opening win.
Suess (7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 8 K, 2 BB, 2 HBP) threw 109 pitches in his route-going performance. He gave himself an early 2-0 lead with a two-run homer in the first inning off an 0-1 pitch and added a solo homer on an 0-2 pitch leading off the fifth. In between Suess collected a single.
Slade Sweat (2-for-4) also blasted two roundtrippers and drove in three runs. His first homer, a first-pitch tworun shot in the first inning, gave Ware County a 4-0 lead. Sweat also hit a first-pitch solo homer to start the fourth.
The Cadets scored their only run in the bottom of the second against Suess cutting the 4-0 deficit to 4-1. A leadoff double came home on a one-out single.
Ware County stretched the lead to 6-1 with a tworun fourth. Following Sweat’s second homer of the day, Evan Pearson (2for-4) singled with one out and Luke Hooks followed with a walk. Pearson raced home from second on an errant pickoff attempt.
The Gators added single runs in each of the final three innings. Suess provided the fifth inning run.
Ware County’s run in the sixth scored on a wild pitch. Zeke Gillis, pinch running for Cole Cox (1for-4) who beat out a double play attempt, moved up when Suess walked. A passed ball moved the runners up 90 feet with a wild pitch scoring Gillis for a 7-1 advantage.
Suess ran into trouble in the bottom of the inning. After retiring 10 straight BC batters, the right-hander surrendered a leadoff double, a single and hit a batter loading the bases with nobody out. A strikeout, infield pop and fly out followed squelching the threat.
Ware County sandwiched two singles around a Cadets’ error in the first three batters starting the seventh to score. Bryce Dixon (2-for-4) led off with a single, moved to second when Sweat’s grounder was booted and scored on Landon Smallwood’s (1for-3) first-pitch bloop single.
Suess hit a batter and issued a walk during Benedictine’s half of the seventh.
Game 2 No. 3 Gators ............9 No. 13 Benedictine...2
Sweat’s one-out, runscoring single in the bottom of the fourth broke a 1-all tie giving Ware County the lead for good en route to beating the Cadets.
BC struck for a first inning run against Evan Joiner, who twirled a complete game allowing five hits. Joiner fanned six, walked two and hit two batters in the 97-pitch outing.
The Cadets collected three of their five hits in the first inning with the third being a run-scoring double.
The Gators evened the score at 1-apiece in the bottom of the second on Dixon’s (1-for-1) run-scoring double. Walker Hudson (1-for-3) lined a leadoff single and was lifted for courtesy runner Landon Taylor, who advanced around to third on a pair of passed balls.
Seuss (1-for-3) started the fourth with a fourpitch leadoff walk. He moved to second on a wild pitch and over to third on a groundout. After a walk to Dixon, Sweat (2-for-4) laced a run-scoring single to right for 2-1 lead.
Smallwood (1-for-4) followed with a RBI single driving home Dixon with Sweat taking third on the throw to the plate. Sweat scored on a wild pitch for a 4-1 advantage.
Benedictine plated an unearned run in the fifth on a two-out error that followed a base hit and a hit batter to get to within 4-2.
Cox (1-for-3) led off the bottom of the inning with a single. Consecutive walks to Hudson and Dixon followed ahead of Sweat’s grandslam homer to left off a 1-0 pitch extending the lead to 8-2.
Cox started the sixth getting hit by a pitch. He advanced to second on a passed ball, stole third and scored on a Suess single for the final run.
Game 3 No. 3 Gators ............7 No. 13 Benedictine...4
The Gators used a three-run fourth inning to break a 2-all tie scoring the go-ahead run on a BC throwing error.
Benedictine grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the second against Dixon (4 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 K, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 1 WP) on a two-out single following a single and a walk.
Ware County evened the score in the bottom of the inning. Sweat (2-for-3) reached on a one-out single, moved to second on a groundout, and scored on Isaiah White’s (2-for-3) two-out single.
Cox (1-for-4), who reached on a fielder’s choice, was balked to second, stole third and scored on the throwing error for a 2-1 lead.
BC turned a one-out single in the fourth into a run using an error, stole base and wild pitch to knot the score at 2-apiece.
Dixon was hit to start the fourth and removed for Taylor. A single by Sweat, a double steal and a throwing error allowed Taylor to score the goahead run.
A single by Smallwood (1-for-3) and White’s ensuing two-run double extended the margin to 5-2.
Hudson’s leadoff walk in the bottom of the fifth led to a run. Keaton Holloway, courtesy running for Hudson, stole second, moved to third after tagging on a fly ball, and scored on a balk upping the lead to 6-2.
The Cadets scored a run in the sixth against Smallwood (1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 K, 0 BB) with consecutive two-out singles and a stole base to pull to within 6-3.
Ware County got the run right back in its half of the inning for a 7-3 working margin. Luke Hooks (1-for-2) drew a one-out walk, moved to second on a wild pitch and reached third when Cox legged out an infield hit. After Cox stole second, Hooks was awarded home on a balk.
Benedictine scored a run in the seventh against Sweat (1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 K, 0 BB, 2 HBP). After hitting the first two batters, Sweat surrendered a run-scoring single before settling down to retire the next three batters.
