Baseball Class AAAAAA Championship: Lee County vs. Pope recap

Pope (34-6) won their third state baseball title Monday afternoon with a two-game sweep of Lee County (28-14) at State Mutual Stadium in Rome. Loading the bases in the bottom of the second, the Greyhounds scored two on a walk and an error before Lee County put up one in the fourth. Pope scored three in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Michael Wynne and Jared Miller, and Buddy Floyd's RBI single. Starter Chase Smith collected the win, allowing just one hit on a bunt in seven innings. Smith and Game 1 starter Ryan Webb combined to strike out 18 over their 14 innings of work. Pope won their first state title since 2013 (Class AAAAA), having finished as the runner-up last season to Cobb County rival Walton in what was then the GHSA's highest classification (Class AAAAAA) and lost just once in this month's postseason.

Game 1

Pope 2, Lee County 1

Behind a strong seven-inning, complete game performance by starter Ryan Webb, Pope opened the best-of-three series with a win over Lee County, collecting 10 hits. The Greyhounds scored a run in the third before Lee County tied it in the fourth and  Pope went ahead to stay with a run in the fifth on an RBI double by Jared Miller. The Trojans had just three hits. Pope left 11 runners on base and six in scoring position. But Webb was dominant, giving up only the one unearned run. The Greyhounds could have put the game away later in the fifth after they took the 2-1 lead when they had bases loaded with no outs but couldn't push any across and also had bases loaded in the sixth and failed to score again. Webb, the team's No. 1 starter, won his 10th game of the season.

Lee County vs. Johns Creek

Lee County defeated Johns Creek in a deciding Game 3 semifinal 8-0 Friday and will play Pope in the championship series. The two programs will face off in Rome on Monday morning at 11 in a doubleheader. If a Game 3 is needed, it will take place Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Mercer University in Macon.

Click the link below for a recap of the semifinal game.