Ringgold playoff machine rolls on

The Ringgold baseball playoff machine is rolling right along.

The Tigers, led by head coach Brent Tucker, are one step closer to their goal after sweeping visiting Pepperell, 5-2 in game one and 7-0 in game two of the Georgia Class AAA state playoffs on Friday.

Tucker said he was proud of the Blue-and-White for handling business as usual.

“We did what we had to do today,” he said. “It was a first-round opponent and Pepperell is a good team. We were able to scratch some hits together, get some runs, play good defense all day long and our pitching was outstanding.”

Ringgold will host again on Wednesday in the second round in another best-of-three series against Westminster. The first game is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Tucker said he knows everything from this point on will be a battle.

“There’s only 16 teams left now,” he said. “We’ll get after it...it only gets tougher and tougher.”

Tucker said his team planned to focus on fundamentals in the days leading up to the second round.

“We just plan to get their energy back, some soreness out and get ready to go again before Wednesday,” he said.

After a 5-2 win in Game 1, Ringgold left no room for doubt in Game 2 with the Dragons.

Garrett Yates put the Tigers, who were the visiting team in game two, ahead in their first at bat with a solo homer.

Ringgold added three runs in the third inning when Jordan Ransom led off with a single and Yates reached on an error. Then Ty Jones laid down a perfect bunt that was thrown away, allowing two runs to score, and scored on a sacrifice fly hit by Zach Morris.

The Blue-and-White added another run in the sixth inning on an RBI fielder’s choice.

The final two runs came in their final at bat. Yates reached on an error and later scored on another fielder’s choice with Morris up to bat. Pinch-runner Hayden Moss scored the final run on a single hit by Ethan ‘s Dalton.

Garrett Wilbanks was the winning pitcher in game one.

In Game 2, Devin Lancaster went the distance to get the win for Ringgold.

Garrett Peeples led the Tigers going 3-for-4, Jones had two hits and Yates was on base three times in the leadoff spot.