Published Sunday, May 11, 2008

Three local teams alive in state playoffs

The Times-Herald

And then there were three. East Coweta, Newnan and Heritage advanced out of the first round of the state baseball playoffs over the weekend to live to play another day.

East Coweta and Heritage swept their opening round series while Newnan took two out of three from Redan.

Northgate was eliminated in two straight in Griffin.

The EC and Newnan wins had touches of the miraculous.

The Indians rallied from a 2-1 deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning to win the opening game of their series over M.L. King, 3-2, before taking game two easily, 14-3.

Newnan's comeback was even more dramatic.

No, make it miraculous.

The Cougars were down to their last out and trailing by three runs in Saturday's rubber game at Redan before rallying for five runs and a 10-8 win.

The East Coweta Indians used a combination of timely and clutch hitting along with good pitching to sweep their opening round series Friday in Sharpsburg.

Game one on Friday was straight out of a storybook.

Trailing 2-1 going to the bottom of the seventh, Caleb Pulliam ripped a pinch-hit, opposite field homer leading off the inning to tie the game and the Indians scored the game-winner on a wild pitch after Jarius Rhodes followed Pulliam's smash with a double off the left field wall and courtesy runner Chris James was sacrificed to third.

Cam Bedrosian was the winning pitcher in game one, tossing a three-hitter while striking out six.

The Indians had flirted with breaking the first game open all afternoon, leaving five runners in scoring position through the first six innings, but couldn't get the big hit before Pulliam stepped to the plate.

In the second game the Indians scored nine runs in the fourth and fifth innings to bring the festivities to a halt with the mercy rule.

Rhodes was the winning pitcher in game two with relief help from Cody Whitaker.

If EC's win in game one of its series was dramatic, Newnan's victory in game three on Saturday at Redan came right out of fantasyland.

The Cougars trailed Redan 8-5 going to the top of the seventh.

Newnan loaded the bases, but with two outs, the Cougars defied the odds with a five-run outburst.

Alex Hand's two-run single made it 8-7 and Kevin Dunn's RBI-base hit tied the game at 8-8.

Clint Clark then stroked a two-run base hit to put the Cougars up by two.

Tyler Marchman, who had relieved starter Andrew Dunn, picked up the win when he retired the Raiders in order in the bottom of the seventh.

Newnan won game one of its series on Friday, 7-2, behind the seven-hit, complete-game pitching of Garrett Smith.

The win ended what had been a 14-game winning streak for the homestanding Raiders.

Newnan led 2-0 after three innings and 4-0 going to the bottom of the fourth thanks in part to a solo homer by freshman shortstop Hand when Redan scored both its runs.

The Cougars added insurance runs in the sixth and seventh for the final five-run margin.

In game two, Redan wiped out what had been a 3-1 Newnan lead to go up 6-3 in the top of the fifth.

The Cougars battled back with two in the bottom of the inning, but the Raiders settled the issue with a seven-run outburst in the sixth.

The Northgate Vikings ran into a buzz saw in Griffin Friday and were swept in their opening round doubleheader, 4-0 and 11-4, as the Bears' pitching and hitting proved too strong.

Griffin got two complete-game performances on the mound and outhit the Vikings 22-12.

Northgate finished the year 14-13.

Danny Cain was the first game loser as Griffin scored all the runs (3) and more it would need to win in the third inning.

In the nightcap the Bears scored nine runs in their final two at bats to blow open what had been a tight game.

Six errors by the Vikings in game two contributed mightily to their downfall.

The Heritage Hawks beat Southwest Georgia two straight to advance to the GISA's next level.

Heritage won Friday's game, 4-1, and took Saturday's deciding contest, 7-5.

In Friday's win James Kinsey hurled a complete game, 10-strikeout gem, but needed a three-run bottom of the sixth to walk off a winner.

In Saturday's contest, Jack Duffey went the route on the mound, giving up seven hits while striking out 10 as well.

The Hawks jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first, but Southwest Georgia battled back to within one run, 5-4, after four innings.

Heritage added a couple of insurance runs over the last two innings to come away a winner.

The wins were the 14th and 15th straight for the streaking Hawks.