BCHS gets berth to play in state tournament
Brantley County closed out its season being swept by top-ranked Jeff Davis with two of the three games played on the BCHS campus.
The Herons (8-22) earned an invite to the Class A Division I 32team field playoff bracket. BCHS, joined by all seven teams in the region reaching the post-season, is seeded 32nd and will open Friday, April 25 at top-seed Gordon Lee (291) of Region 7 in Chickamauga.
An “if” game will be played Saturday. No game times were released by press time.
Region champion Jeff Davis (26-4) is the second seed and will host 31stseed Dodge County (1114). Region runner-up Fitzgerald (16-14) is seeded 11th and will host 22nd-seed Lamar County (15-11) of Region 4.
No. 15 seed Worth County (20-9), who finished third, is hosting 18th-seed Dublin (20-9) of Region 2. Thomasville (10-20), who finished fifth behind BCHS, enters as a 30th-seed and travels to third-seed Pepperell (23-6) of Region 6.
Bacon County (10-16), who placed sixth in the region, is seeded 24th and travels to ninth-seed Banks County (22-8) of Region 8. Berrien (1020), the last place team in the region, is seeded 29th and travels to fourth-seed Social Circle (28-2) of Region 4.
The second round of the playoffs begin Thursday, May 1 with “if” games slated for Friday May 2.
In the final region series, Jeff Davis (17-1 region), ranked first for public schools by Max-Preps and second in the Georgia High School power rankings, scored a season-high run total in beating the homestanding Herons 15-4 in the Tuesday, April 15 series opener.
The Yellow Jackets clinched the series Thursday, April 17 holding off Brantley County 3-2 in Hazlehurst. Jeff Davis finished off the sweep Friday, April 18 in Caney Bay recording a 10-3 victory.
Game 1 No. 1 Jeff Davis......15 Herons ...................4
CANEY BAY — Jeff Davis scored four times in its first at bat and broke the game open with a seven-run fourth in beating the Herons.
The Yellow Jackets collected four hits in the first inning highlighted by a two-run homer off the bat of Colby Beach against Gaven Grafford (2.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 K, 2 BB, 1 HBP).
Jeff Davis also scored on a one-out double by Treyton Webester (3-for-5) and run-scoring single off the bat of Dylan Carelock (1for-5) in building a 4-0 lead.
Colt Thrift (3-for-4), who drove in all four runs, led off the Brantley County first with a solo homer off of Eli Saunders (3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 K, 0 BB) cutting the deficit to 4-1.
Jeff Davis added a run in the third for a 5-1 advantage. Consecutive oneout walks and a hit batter loaded the bases. Brayden Lolley (1-for-4) followed with a sacrifice fly off reliever Brody Howell (1.2 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 0 K, 1 BB, 2 WP) to right plating the lead runner.
The Herons responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning to pull to within 5-3. Kent Thomas reached on a oneout error with Thrift following two pitches later with his second roundtripper of the game — a tworun shot to left.
The Yellow Jackets sent 11 batters to the plate in the fourth inning. They collected five hits, a walk and capitalized on two BCHS errors.
Jeff Davis scored on a double by Webster, an error on a ball hit by Carelock, a two-run singles by Beach and Karter Galbreath (2-for-4) and a groundout by Lolley to stretch the lead to 12-3.
Brantley County left the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth. Grafford (1for-3) lined a leadoff single, Clark Carter was hit by a one-out pitch and Jackson Rowell (1-for-3) singled. Jonathan Bohannon (3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 K, 1 BB, 1 HBP) ended the threat with consecutive strikeouts.
The Yellow Jackets roughed up Hayden Hickox (3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 K, 0 BB) in the seventh after pitching two scoreless innings and allowing one base runner.
Webster followed a oneout double with a runscoring single. Bohannon (1-for-3) blasted a two-out, first-pitch two-run homer pushing the lead to 15-3.
BCHS tallied a run in the bottom of the seventh. Thomas drew a one-out walk and scored on Thrift’s double one pitch later.
Game 2 No. 1 Jeff Davis 3 Herons 2
HAZLEHURST — The Yellow Jackets built a 3-0 lead and then hung on to claim the one-run decision over Brantley County.
The Herons collected three of their four hits off Andrew White (4 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 7 K, 0 BB, 1 HBP) in the first two innings.
Grafford’s (1-for-3) lined a one-out single in the opening frame. Kaden Hendrix (1-for-2) started the second with a single and was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a single by Thomas (1-for-2).
Jeff Davis scored a run in the second and two in the third against Hendrix (6 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 5 K, 3 BB, 3 HBP, 1 WP) in jumping out to a 3-0 advantage.
Consecutive one-out walks and a two-out single by Lolley (1-for-3) plated the Yellow Jackets’ run in the second inning. A oneout, run-scoring single by Webster (1-for-3) in the third inning and a twoout, bases loaded wild pitch pushed the Jeff Davis advantage to 3-0.
Carter’s (1-for-2) oneout double and Hendrix getting hit went for naught in the fourth inning.
BCHS struck for two runs in the fifth against reliever Mason Ragland (1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 K, 1 BB, 1 HBP 1 WP) to pull to within 3-2. Thomas was drilled by Magland’s first offering, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Eli Thomas (1-for-3).
After Thrift reached on an error, both runners advanced a base on Grafford’s groundout. Rowell’s ensuing grounder plated Thomas with the final run of the game.
Following a 1-2-3 sixth inning, Brantley County put the tying run on base in the seventh with Grafford drawing a two-out walk.
Game 3 No. 1 Jeff Davis ......10 Herons ....................3
CANEY BAY — Jeff Davis used a six-run sixth inning two pull away from a 4-2 lead in completing the sweep of the Herons.
The visiting Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 20 lead in the third inning against Howell (5 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 3 K, 0 BB, 2 HBP, 2 WP) after putting runners at first and third in the second with one out and coming away without a run.
Webster (1-for-4) and Carelock (2-for-5) delivered back-to-back runscoring singles in an inning set up by a one-out hit batter and ensuing error.
BCHS was denied in the bottom of the inning leaving Hickox (2-for-2) and Howell on base following a leadoff base hit and walk to start the frame.
Jeff Davis plated a run in the fourth on a Colby Beach (3-for-3) bloop single that followed a single, hit by pitch and sacrifice but extending the advantage to 3-0.
Hendrix (1-for-3) started the Herons’ fourth with a walk, was balked to second by Beach (4 IP, 3 H, 1, 0 ER, 2 K, 2 BB), advanced to third on an error and scored on Carson Coger’s groundout to pull BCHS to within 3-1.
Jeff Davis followed with a run in the top of the fifth on a Beach base hit pushing the margin back to three runs at 4-1.
Brantley County countered with a run in the bottom of the inning against reliever Zack Hulett (3 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 K, 1 BB, 2 HBP) cutting the deficit to 4-2. The second of consecutive two-out singles by Grafford (2-for-4) and Carter (2-for-3) plated Parker Rentz, courtesy running for Howell who had reached on a fielder’s choice.
The Yellow Jackets broke the game open in the top of the sixth scoring six unearned runs against Thomas (.1 IP, 1 H, 6 R, 0 ER, 0 K, 0 BB, 2 HBP, 1 WP) to open up a 10-2 lead. Jeff Davis sent 11 batters to the plate capitalizing on three consecutive fielding errors. The Yellow Jackets collected just three hits and had two batters hit.
BCHS scored a run in the bottom of the seventh getting a leadoff single by Grafford and walk to Carter. After they each moved up on a two-out balk, Grafford scored when Coger’s grounder was booted.
