The Richmond Hill baseball team took two of three games from nationally ranked Winder-Barrow, winning the “if necessary” game Saturday 7-2 to move on to the Elite 8 in the 6A state tournament.

Winder-Barrow had not lost to another Georgia team until the Wildcats took game two 3-2 Wednesday. The suburban Atlanta team had been ranked as high as No. 2 nationally this season and its only losses before facing Richmond Hill had been to teams from Louisiana and California. Winder-Barrow, ranked No. 1 in 6A, finishes the season at 30-4.

“They didn’t care,” Wildcats Coach Stacy Bennett said of his team’s attitude toward Winder-Barrow’s accomplishments. “Not in a cocky way, but we’ve ingrained in the guys to just show up and play hard for seven innings and if it’s good enough to win then its good enough to win.”

Richmond Hill led 3-2 after five innings, and scored four more in the top of the seventh, including a double by Jackson Finley, a base hit by Kip Gibson and a walk by Chris Sewell.

The Wildcats, now 23-11, play Lee County in a best-of-three series in Leesburg starting with a double-header Wednesday. The “if necessary” game is Thursday. Times have not yet been determined. Lee County, the No. 1 seed from Region 1-AAAAAA, is 24-11.

Richmond Hill split its double-header at Winder-Barrow Wednesday, dropping the first game 7-3 before taking game two 3-2. The games were moved up one day due to impending inclement weather in the Atlanta area forecast for Thursday.

Rick Mitchell, Braden Henle and Gibson each had an RBI in the win Wednesday, while Mitchell went 2-for-2 at the plate with a double and two walks.

Finley struck out five to pick up the win, and Kasey Green got the save.

In the first game, Sewell and Will McGrath both went 2-for-3 batting, while McGrath had two RBIs.

Richmond Hill’s “if necessary” game at Winder-Barrow was supposed to be played at 5 p.m. Thursday but was postponed to Friday due to weather. That game was then postponed to Saturday, also due to weather.