Bryan County baseball coach Kyle Farmer will be looking to fine tune and build on the momentum the Redskins generated last week as they prepare for next week’s opening round of the Class A-DII state baseball playoffs.

The Redskins grabbed the fourth and final Region 3A-DII berth in the playoffs with a 10-6 win over Screven County last Thursday. They followed that with a 3-1 and 9-7 doubleheader sweep of Zion Christian Academy of Columbia, Tn., Saturday afternoon.

Bryan County (15-13, 7-7) will wrap up regular season play this week with a Monday game at Islands and a home game with Bluffton on Wednesday.

The Redskins will open state tournament play next week at No. 1 seed Georgia Military College Prep (16-10) in a best two-of-three series. The GHSA has set Wednesday as the start of the playoffs with first round games to be concluded by Saturday.

Eli Koskela drove in five runs and Harry Adams turned in a gutty pitching performance to lead Bryan County past the Gamecocks in a do-or-die game. Had the Redskins lost they would have finished tied with Portal and the Panthers would be heading to Milledgeville as they owned the tiebreaker.

Bryan County spotted Screven 1-0 and 2-1 leads before taking control of the game with a four-run outburst in the second inning highlighted by Koskela’s two-run single.

“The four runs in the second took a lot of pressure off,” Adams said. “It gave us some momentum and we were able to hold on to it.”

Admitting to a case of nerves at the outset Adams gave up a run in the first but the Redskins answered with a run in the first when, with the bases loaded, Koskela scored on a wild pitch from third by Gamecocks ace Holland Zipperer.

The big moment for Adams and the Redskins came in the second when Screven had a run in and the bases-loaded but the senior righthander induced cleanup hitter Stone McBride to hit a grounder to shortstop Ethan Williams who easily made the throw to first to end the threat.

The Redskins sent eight batters to the plate in their half of the second. In addition to Koskela’s heroics Gunner Ennis and Jordan Fabin also had run producing hits.

In addition to leaving the bases loaded in the second the Gamecocks also left two on in the first, fourth and fifth innings as Adams, often pitching from behind, allowed only four of 14 baserunners to score in his five innings.

Adams departed with a 10-4 lead and Kelly Groover pitched the final two innings giving up runs in the sixth and seventh inning, one coming on a home run to center by McBride.

Zipperer, a strong candidate for region Pitcher of the Year honors, did not prove to be a challenge as Bryan County got to him for six of its runs and eight of its 12 hits.

Bryan County proved to be tough in the clutch as it scored all of its runs with two outs.

The Redskins had a 7-4 lead going into the bottom of the fifth and put it away when it erupted for three runs, all coming on Koskela’s two-out bases-loaded double.

“We roll with Eli,” Farmer said. “If he hits, we win. It wasn’t pretty but we’re gritty.”

Getting the four runs in the second, Farmer said, changed the complexion of the game for the Redskins who normally have to claw and scratch for runs.

“We hit the baseball, we stole bases, we bunted, we were in attack mode all night,” Farmer said. “That’s what getting ahead like that in the second inning allowed us to do.”

Koskela finished with three hits while leadoff hitter Braylin Deloach got on base four times with a pair of singles and two walks. Groover also had a pair of singles as eight players had at least one hit. And, Ashton Martin, the lone batter not to get a hit, laid down two sacrifice bunts and drew a walk while reaching on a fielder’s choice in his lone official at bat.

“Braylin is the ideal leadoff hitter,” Farmer said. “When he gets on base, he makes things happen. We’ve got Ennis behind him followed by Eli. The top of our order is solid.”

Screven will enter the playoffs as a No. 3 seed while ECI and Metter played Tuesday at ECI with the winner earning the region championship and a No. 1 seed while the loser will go as a No. 2 seed.