Pope sweeps South Forsyth for Class AAAAA title

You know things are going your way when your leadoff hitter is ordered to try a sacrifice bunt, misses on two attempts, yet finally swings away and hits a game-changing homer.

Jon Matthews had the clutch two-run homer as Pope swept South Forsyth 3-0 and 7-3 in the Class AAAAA championship series Saturday. It was the first baseball title for the Cobb County school.

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Johnny Crawford/jcrawford@ajc.com

Pope’s Matt Lane, who has signed with Mississippi State, pitched a complete game in the opener.

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“It’s unbelievable, just unbelievable,” Pope coach Jeff Roswell said. “We deserved it; we fought hard. I can’t say enough about our guys.”

In the opener, Pope’s Matt Lane, who has signed with Mississippi State, pitched a complete game. He scattered five hits, while striking out seven.

Pope scored all of its runs in the second inning after back-to-back RBI singles by Hudson Power and Matthews.

“I expecting that out of Matt,” Rowland said. “He wasn’t as sharp last time. But he battled and gave us everything he had. That’s all you can ask out of a senior going to [play SEC baseball].”

In the nightcap, South Forsyth grabbed some early momentum when Zack Alvord blasted a solo homer in the first inning. Pope appeared headed to a tight game, therefore Rowland ordered Matthews to bunt while trailing 2-1 with a runner on second base with no outs in the fifth inning.

Matthews missed on his first two tries, and then was forced to swing away. “I wasn’t trying to hit a home run,” he said with a laugh. “I was just trying to make contact … but yes, that was the farthest I’ve hit a baseball in my entire life.”

Matthews’ clutch hit put Pope ahead and then Jake Montgomery had a double to knock in a pair of runs later in the inning for the 5-2 advantage. Connor Lynch added a two-run homer in the seventh.

“Everything was working for us today … pitching, hitting and defense,” Matthews said.

It was also South Forsyth’s first appearance in the finals. “All the pitchers Pope threw out at us, they did a tremendous job of attacking the strike zone,” South Forsyth coach Jamie Corr said.

“All the credit goes to Pope’s coaching staff and players. They are very well-deserving champions.”