The Class A baseball state finals are set.
Schley County and Emanuel County Institute, the public-school finalists, have never won state titles. King’s Ridge, the defending private-school champion, will go for two in a row against Hebron Christian, the 2011 champ.
Schley County, a school that opened in 2000, had the most dramatic victory Tuesday. The Wildcats entered the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 3 with Treutlen tied 1-1. Will Barry and Reid Ragsdale – the bottom two hitters in the lineup – both singled with one out. With two outs, Michael Leeder singled to right field, giving Schley a walk-off win.
Chase Patrick pitched a complete-game six-hitter. The run he allowed was unearned.
Schley County has never won a state title in a boys sport. The Wildcats were the girls golf champions in 2013, the first year of the public-private split.
Schley will play ECI in the final. ECI’s only state titles are in football (2007, 2012). ECI won its series with Atkinson County 9-1, 4-12, 8-1.
In the private division, King’s Ridge was dominant against No. 1 seed Tattnall Square, winning 12-1, 7-0.
King’s Ridge had 18 hits in the first game, three apiece by Adam Moore (signed with Mercer) and Brandt Stallings, the Georgia Tech signee, who tripled and homered. Austin Higginbotham (2-for-5) also homered and was the winning pitcher, going six innings. Connor Burns pitched a shutout in Game 2 and struck out 11. Higginbotham, who has signed with Austin Peay, was hot with the bat again, going 2-for-3 with three RBI.
Next for King’s Ridge is Hebron, which beat Brookstone 2-3, 5-4, 10-5.
In Tuesday’s Game 3, Tyler Calert was 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Parker Runnels was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBI. Hebron used three pitchers to get through it, and Jake Hershman, Spence Johnson and Smith Bogdon each were effective in two-plus innings.
The real suspense came Monday in Game 2, with Hebron trailing 1-0 in the series and 4-2 in the game entering the bottom of the seventh inning.
Hebron scored three runs. Parker Runnels and Smith Bogdon had singles in the inning, which ended with an infield error that scored the winning run with two outs.
Schley County and King's Ridge are the home teams. Both championship series will begin with doubleheaders on Saturday. The Schley-ECI series will begin at 2 p.m. King's Ridge-Hebron's start time has not been announced.
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