Heritage advances to GHSA baseball quarterfinals
After arriving home to Ringgold early Tuesday evening following a GHSA baseball second-round playoff two-day doubleheader sweep of Hampton, Heritage High School coach Eric Beagles was relieved to somehow beat the weather and the opponent at the same time.
Spring downpours affected Georgia’s second round Monday and Tuesday, though the Generals (26-7) fought through two delays to win game one Monday, 8-3, before completing the Class AAAA sweep 11-1 just west of Atlanta early Tuesday.
“Yesterday was one long day,” said Beagles, whose team swept Stephenson in a firstround series. “We were originally pushed to 7 (from a 4 p.m original start time), then got a 6-0 lead before a lightning delay got us and we didn’t get back on the field until 10:15 or so. The GHSA said we couldn’t start the second game after 11, so we had to go back this morning and fortunately were able to beat the rain.”
By contrast, Calhoun’s series start at Greenbrier near Augusta was postponed Monday and Tuesday’s attempt to start game one ended after one inning. The teams will try again Wednesday at noon. Ringgold in Class AAA and Gordon Lee in Class A public will host series Wednesday at 4 after having Tuesday openings postponed.
Heritage used a big inning in each of its games to get the upper hand on the Hornets (22-8), who were making their first appearance in the second round. Ahead 1-0, the Generals put four across in the third inning of game one, with Alex Mixon, Landon Skeen, Brady Chandler and C.J. Robertson each driving in a run.
The lead grew to 8-0 following a long lightning delay on RBIs from Cade Kiniry and Gage Shaver and reliever Garrison May worked out of a big jam in the seventh to preserve the win for starter Zach Barrett, who allowed one run and five hits in 6⅔ innings. Kiniry was 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored, with Chandler knocking in two runs.
Six second-inning runs were more than enough for Heritage in game two. Dylan Bryan and Robertson had RBI singles and Mixon a threerun double in the big frame. Chandler was 3-for-3 with two doubles and two runs scored, with Mixon adding two hits and four RBIs, Cannon Stafford three hits and two RBIs and Robertson two hits, two RBIs and three runs scored.
Kiniry went each of the game’s five innings and allowed two hits and one run.
“Those big innings gave our kids a lot of confidence at the plate and also on the mound,” said Beagles, whose team will travel to Benedictine for a quarterfinal best-of-three series beginning Monday. “We got some really good pitching and we swung the bats well and played clean defensively. I’m just really pleased with how mentally we were able to work through all the distractions.”
GIRLS’ SOCCER
GHSA Class AAAA quarterfinals
Heritage 2, Islands 1:
The Lady Generals (15-4) advanced to the semifinal round in Savannah as Lila Langston scored both of the team’s goals on assists from Brooke Fairchild. Heritage had 23 shots on goal, led by Molly Cason’s seven, and Lindsay Connell saved six of seven shots on goal.