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Patient Redskins are now in contention in 3A-D1
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Coming off a 20-win season which saw it advance to the second round of the state baseball playoffs the Bryan County baseball team entered the season with high hopes.

Then came a slow start which saw the Redskins seemingly unable to get out of their way as they stumbled to a 5-7 start while hitting under .200 as a team.

Coach Justin Covington, however, was preaching patience because he had front ended the schedule with teams that were pitching heavy plus there were some pretty good players coming once basketball ended.

Real good players. Guys named Ennis, Hill and Beck.

And this past week saw that patience rewarded with those players who transitioned from one roundball sport to another showing they were starting to round into form.

The result is a five-game winning streak including a Region 3A-D1 doubleheader sweep of Claxton on Tuesday night that has the ship righted and headed in the right direction.

In the opener it was all Konnor Leggett as the hard throwing lefthander pitched a no-hitter in a a 10-0 win called after five innings due to the mercy rule.

Leggett struck out nine and walked two and drew support from throughout the lineup as the Redskins pounded out 11 hits, three by batterymate Aidan Martin whose hits included a triple and produced two RBI.

Tanner Ennis continued his hot-hitting from the leadoff spot as he doubled and tripled while driving in a run and scoring twice. Justin Beck was 2-for-2 with four RBI and Sean Kelly Hill also had a pair of hits with an RBI.

In the nightcap Kris Martin nearly duplicated Leggett’s performance as he pitched a one-hitter in a 15-0 win that went only four innings. Martin also had a two-run homer as the Redskins scored nine runs in the first inning to put it away early.

The no-hitter was only the start of Leggett’s night as the region Player of the Year the last two years, supported Martin with a perfect night at the plate. Leggett had a pair of doubles and a single good for four RBI to pace a 12-hit attack.

Ennis singled in the nightcap to run his hitting streak to nine games.

The two teams will conclude the series Friday night at Claxton. Bryan County will then be idle until March 28 when it hosts Screven County in a region doubleheader.

The two dominating wins over the Tigers established Bryan County as an early region favorite along with defending state champion Metter in the four-team region. The two will meet on April 4 at Metter and three days later at Bryan County.

Metter swept Screven County in its region opener Tuesday night. The Tigers are led by all-state junior shortstop Rustan Rigdon who is a Vanderbilt commit.

During the win streak the Redskins have hit .367 as a team after hovering at the .200 mark. Aidan Martin has gone 9-18 to lead the way while Ennis, one of the top all-around athletes in the area, is right behind at .471. Leggett and Beck have each hit .385 during that stretch.

Leggett had two of the five wins in the streak, giving up only one hit in 12 innings while striking out 19 and walking five. Kris Martin, Beck and Ennis have the other wins.

Ennis got his win against Southeast Bulloch when he pitched a scoreless seventh inning in relief of Martin and saw the Redskins score twice in the bottom of the inning for a win which on the surface may have turned the season around.

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