Diamond Generals bow out in Elite Eight
The Heritage Generals began the Class AAAA state tournament by taking down a region champion on the road in the first round and they threatened to do it again in the third round.
Lagrange, however, refused to follow the script.
After falling to Heritage in the first game of their three-game quarterfinal series last Monday night, the Region 2 champion Grangers salvaged a win in the nightcap before finishing off the series a day later with a 5-0 victory in Lagrange.
The Grangers (29-9) moved on to face Region 7 champion Cedartown in the state semifinals, while the Generals, who advanced farther than any other No. 4 seed in the 32-team field, ended its season with a 22-13 record.
HERITAGE 4, LAGRANGE 1
In last Monday’s opener, clutch hitting by Gage Shaver and solid pitching gave the Generals the victory.
Cannon Stafford led off the game with a walk and, two batters later, Shaver launched a two-run shot over the fence in center to stake the boys from Boynton to the early lead.
Lagrange left them loaded in the bottom of the first and the 2-0 lead stood unchanged until the top of the third.
Stafford once again led off the inning with a walk and was bunted to second base by Brady Chandler before racing
home on Shaver’s Rbi-single to right.
The Grangers recorded three straight two-out hits in the bottom of the inning before getting one of the runs back on a Cooper Stevens RBI. However, that was all the runs they would manage and the home team left the bases loaded again in the fourth.
Then in the top of the fifth, Stafford and Eli Totherow began the inning with back-to-back singles and Chandler put down another bunt to try and move the runners over. Totherow was thrown out at third as Stafford took second, but the Heritage senior would score his third run of the game as Shaver collected his third hit and fourth RBI of the contest on a double to center.
Lagrange managed just one more baserunner over the final three innings, a one-out single in the sixth. However, the runner never advanced past first base as Jonathan Glover got three straight outs to record the save. He finished with one strikeout in his one inning of relief.
Zach Barrett pitched six strong innings. He allowed just the one earned run on six hits and one walk with eight strikeouts.
LAGRANGE 2, HERITAGE 0
Playing as the visiting team in Game 2, the Grangers got a single and a fielder’s choice before an Rbi-single by Preston Pressley staked them to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning.
Lagrange ultimately added an insurance run in the top of the seventh as Seth Stargell drew a walk before scoring on a Zack Thompson single.
Heritage had three good chances to score, but came up empty each time.
They loaded the bases in the bottom of the third, but left the sacks full. Heritage also left runners at first and second in the fifth.
The Generals’ best chance to score came an inning later. Max Owens drew a walk, which was followed by singles from J.C.
Armour and Landen Skeen to load the bases. However, a very timely home-to-first double play, followed by a even timelier strikeout, allowed the Grangers to escape without any damage.
Heritage had just four hits in the nightcap as Stafford and Chandler also
added singles.
Chandler pitched the first six innings and surrendered two earned runs on six hits and three walks. He struck out three batters, but was saddled with a tough loss. Garrison May pitched the seventh and allowed one hit.
Trevor Booton pitched a complete game for LaGrange. He gave up four walks to go with the four hits and finished with eight strikeouts.
LAGRANGE 5, HERITAGE 0
An Rbi-single by Stargell in the bottom of the first was the only run for either team in the first four innings of Game 3 last Tuesday, though both teams had multiple opportunities to plate runs.
Lagrange left the bases loaded in the bottom of the second and stranded two runners in scoring position in the third. Meanwhile, Heritage
left a runner at second base in both the second and third innings and ended up leaving the bases full in the fourth.
But the home team broke through again in the fifth. A one-out error was followed by an Rbi-single from Colton Esposito and a big two-run double by Turner Cook. Robbie Parker added an RBIsingle before the inning was up as Lagrange built its lead to five.
The Grangers ended up
making some key defensive plays over the final two frames to halt potential Heritage rallies before a final groundout with the bases loaded in the seventh sealed the victory.
Both teams collected seven hits. Lagrange committed five errors, but still found a way to pick up the win.
Caden Wood pitched all seven innings for the Grangers, striking out two and walking two.
Armour threw the first
1.2 innings and allowed one earned run on three hits and two walks with one strikeout. Glover pitched the final 4.1 innings. Only two of the four runs he allowed were earned and he finished with one walk and one strikeout.
Offensively, Armour went 2 for 3 and Stafford — the lone senior on the Generals’ roster — had a double. Chandler, Owens, Skeen and Barrett also had singles.