Houston County celebrated its third all-time state title and first since 2016 with a 2-0 (2-1, 4-0) sweep over Lassiter in Wednesday night’s Class 6A championship at Truist Park--closing out the final GHSA sporting event of the 2020-21 school year. The Bears trailed 1-0 after Lassiter tacked on a run in the top of the third inning, but tied it up in the bottom of the frame with Treyson Hughes’ RBI single that drove home Ej Lewis—who was pinch running for Grant Hortman following his base hit to lead off the inning. The game remained tied 1-1 until Houston County found the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Andrew Dunford was walked to start the inning and advanced to third following a double by Coleman Willis. The Bears capitalized and Drew Burress hit a sacrifice fly to drive home Dunford. Houston County’s Brodie Chestnutt earned the win at the mount and his complete game included five strikeouts and just four hits allowed.
Game 2 saw an explosive start with Houston County jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Bears racked up six hits in the frame following Gage Harrelson’s leadoff single. Hughes singled to put runners on first and second and then Andrew Dunford drove them both home with a triple. Willis hit an RBI single to increase the lead to 3-0 and then Garrett Hortman capped the scoring with an RBI single to push the lead to 4-0. This margin held for the rest of the game, with Lassiter stranding eight runners, Houston County stranding six and the Bears outhitting Lassiter 9-7 in the championship-clinching victory. Willis was clutch at the plate in both games of the series and was also the winning pitcher of Game 2—finishing his shutout with seven strikeouts.
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