Free bases lead to playoff exit for Ringgold baseball in second round
RINGGOLD, Ga. — On the one hand, Tuesday night’s 9-4 season-ending loss to Oconee County in the GHSA Class AAA second round of the playoffs was a tough pill to swallow, but, in the bigger picture, the Ringgold baseball program is very much where it expected to be.
The Tigers (24-9) and Warriors (20-14) had the same amount of hits in Tuesday’s deciding game three at Bill Womack Field — six — but Ringgold pitchers gifted the visitors with six walks and three hit batters in the loss.
“We put five of their first 10 batters on base with three walks and two hit batters and they scored four runs on just two hits,” said Ringgold coach Drew Walker, whose team lost game one before rallying to split Monday. “(Starting pitcher) Eli (Crew) didn’t have his best stuff tonight and our pitchers uncharacteristically walked too many and we couldn’t manufacture enough runs to catch up.”
The trouble began in the second inning with two out when Crew walked the number seven and eight hitters and hit the number nine batter to load the bases. Oconee County’s Cole Johnson, a Georgia Tech signee, plated one run on another walk and Will Roberson scored two more with a single to left to chase Crew.
The Warriors added two more in the third on a walk and two-run homer from Carson Fuchs, but the fight in the Tigers wasn’t completely silenced.
Aidan Hickman singled with one out and, after an out, Conner Christopher singled to bring up cleanup hitter Sebastian Haggard, who delivered a three-run homer to left-center to cut the deficit to 6-3.
The Tigers, though, would go on to leave four runners on base in the next two innings while Oconee added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to secure an Elite Eight berth.
Despite the loss, Walker praised his team’s year-long effort after having to replace two-thirds of the regular lineup
and its pitching ace.
“I am so proud of these seniors for managing expectations of our program for leaving their legacy for the next group,” Walker said. “We lost a core group of seniors from the state championship-game run, so these guys really stepped up and held the standard.
“For next season, the standard remains the standard. We will work hard every day and try to accomplish what no one has here — the elusive state championship. We return a solid foundation with great leadership and we’re ready to get back to work.”
Fuchs had two hits, two RBIs and two runs, with Will Roberson adding two RBIs for Oconee, while Haggard and Hickman had two hits each for Ringgold.
› Lake Oconee Academy 7, Christian Heritage 3: The Lions were eliminated in game three of their Class A (Division II) series in Greensboro.
Christian Heritage (12-16) trailed 2-1 entering the fifth before the hosts scored two runs and were down 4-3 going into the bottom of the sixth before the Titans again scored twice to get some distance.
Junior Castelo and Jace Denson each went 2-for-3, with Sam Corn adding an RBI and run scored for Christian Heritage.