It’s been a tough year for Bryan County’s boys teams but Coach Justin Covington’s baseball team is giving Redskins fans something to cheer about.
The Redskins (5-1) are riding a five-game winning streak after winning three games last weekend, posting 17-8 and 11-1 wins over Towns County sandwiched around a 10-0 win over Liberty County on Saturday morning.
Those three wins were preceded by a record setting performance by senior Logan Brazell in a 6-0 win over the Panthers.
Brazell, who has signed to attend East Georgia College as an invited walk-on, had a game a pitcher can only dream of, striking out 18 Liberty County hitters in six innings to set a new school record.
Reliever Konnor Leggett then put icing on the cake when he came in to whiff the side in the seventh to complete a school record 21 strikeout performance. The Panthers managed one hit.
After beating Towns in a high scoring game Friday night pitching took the stage on Saturday when four Redskins pitchers combined to pitch back-to-back no-hitters against Liberty and Towns in a pair of games shortened by the mercy rule.
In the win over the Panthers senior lefthander Tucker Dyson made his first start in three years and struck out seven in three innings. Brandon Sitton pitched a perfect fourth.
Brazell continued his great start as he went four innings and struck out six while allowing an unearned run in beating the Indians. Tanner Ennis closed it by striking out two more in the fifth.
Weather permitting—its game at Bradwell Institute on Tuesday was rained out—Bryan County will be looking to continue its winning skein with games at Savannah Country Day on Thursday and First Presbyterian on Friday.
With his team playing well in all three phases of the game, i.e., hitting, defense and pitching, Covington wants to build on the current momentum going into next Tuesday’s Region 3A opener against Screven County. The game will have a 5:30 p.m. start at Bryan County and the two will play again at Screven on Friday.
The 38-run explosion over the weekend marked the fifth time in its six games Bryan County has scored in double digits. The Redskins lost their opener to Tattnall County, 11-10, but have been playing lights out since.
Averaging 11 runs a game over the course of a season would be difficult to sustain but Covington believes this could be Bryan County’s most competitive team since 2015 when it went 20-10. That marked the first time in 35 years a Redskins team had won 20 or more games.
“I keep telling them we have the opportunity to be something special,” Covington said. “I tell them to ‘Finish what you start.’ “If we do, we could have a good season. We’ve been hitting the ball well and the pitching has been doing a great job.”
An eight-run outburst in the second inning gave Dyson all he needed to stifle the Panthers. The lanky senior helped his own cause with a two-run single and Leggett was 2-for-3 with a double as he also drove in two runs.
Dyson had not pitched since an outstanding freshman year followed by a torn muscle in his left shoulder that summer. He missed his sophomore season and then had surgery in February of his junior year.
Aidan Martin was 3-for-3 with a triple against Towns to drive in two runs and Leggett had a two-run single. The Redskins got four runs in the second and added four in the fourth before bringing the game to an early end with three in the fifth.