Gordon Lee dismantles Darlington
State Mutual Stadium is home to the Rome Braves, but for four innings on Saturday afternoon, it was owned by the Gordon Lee Trojans.
The Navy-and-White, still the top-ranked Class A public school team in the state, piled up 18 runs on 13 hits and routed Darlington, 18-0, in a Region 6A contest.
Eight different players accounted for the 13 hits, 11 of which were singles, and eight players combined to collect 15 RBIs.
Kobie Cowan was 2-for-3 with a triple, three RBIs and three runs scored, while Chaney Rogers went 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and four runs scored. Dylan Minghini had two hits and plated a pair of runs.
Noah Peterson, Drew McDaniel and Hunter Hodson also had two RBI each, while Mason Pettigrew and Caleb Hopkins drove in one run apiece in the runrule contest.
A third-inning leadoff single by Sam Hunt was the only offense the Tigers (67, 4-3) could muster against Gordon Lee pitcher Austin Thompson. The junior walked one and struck out two.
Nolan Wilson took the loss for Darlington.
Gordon Lee (10-3, 5-0) will host the Tigers in a rematch on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. The Trojans will conclude the week on Thursday when the head to the Lakepoint Complex in Cartersville for a doubleheader against Mt. Zion-Carroll. First pitch of Game 1 is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Gordon Lee’s two games against Excel Christian, scheduled for this past week, were cancelled as the Eagles do not have enough players to field a team.
Trojans second in Class A power rankings
The initial Class A baseball power rankings were released by the GHSA last Tuesday and the Trojans owned the No. 2 spot in the public school division.
Gordon Lee had 9.53 points, which put them less than one-half point behind Emanuel County Institute (10.00). Taylor County (8.20), Charlton County (8.11) and Schley County (7.83) round out the top five.
Two other teams from Region 6 were in the top 12. Bowdon (6.69) checked in at No. 11, one spot ahead of Trion (6.67).
In the private school standings, Tattnall Square Academy was first with 10.97 points, followed in the top five by Savannah Christian (10.61), Athens Academy (8.76), Aquinas (8.30) and Athens Christian (8.14).
King’s Ridge is highest-ranked team from Region 6. The Tigers were ranked No. 9 with 7.67 points.
Teams receive five points for every win plus 100 percent of the victories of every opponent they beat. No points are given for losses, although teams do get 33 percent of the victories of every opponent they lose to during the season.
The total is then divided by the total number of games played to reach the power ranking number. Games against out-of-state opponents and games against opponents who play non-region schedules are not counted.
Region champions are seeded first in the 24-team state playoffs, in order of power rankings, and the rest of the brackets are filled in with wild card teams, based on power rankings.
The top eight teams will receive first-round byes. Higher-seeded teams will always host in each round of the playoffs.
New rankings were due on Tuesday, but unavailable because of newspaper deadlines.