Bryan County had waited 37 years to host a state playoff baseball series. Unfortunately, the Redskins were not able to capitalize on that home field advantage.
Playing as a No. 2 seed, the Redskins ran into a red-hot Swainsboro team Tuesday night and dropped both games of a doubleheader in the best-of-three series, 10-0 and 7-1. An if game, if necessary, would have been played Wednesday. Instead, Redskins Field was sitting empty in a stunned silence with no"if" game to be played.
All indications pointed to it being a series which could go down to the wire. Swainsboro was 7-1 and Bryan County 5-2 against common opponents and scoring margins were similar.
The Tigers (17-10), however, took all suspense out of the proceedings as they jumped out to early leads which put the Redskins (18-13) back on their heels.
In the opener Swainsboro got to Bryan County starter Justin Beck for a pair of runs in the first inning and tacked on another in the second for a quick 3-0 lead which Brice Marchman had no trouble making stand up.
Marchman limited the Redskins to only two hits, both coming from the Ennis brothers. Cooper Ennis got Bryan County’s first hit when he had a one-out single in the fourth. Beck had led off the inning by reaching on an error but after Ennis singled Marchman struck out the next two batters to end the threat.
Tanner Ennis singled in the fifth when he beat out a hard shot to shortstop. Ennis was playing after spending most of the day competing in the Region 3A-DI track meet on the adjoining football stadium.
The Tigers added two runs in the fourth, three in the fifth and made it a mercy rule ending when they tacked on two in the sixth. Beck was the only Bryan County baserunner to reach second.
Needing a win in the second game to keep its playoff hopes alive Bryan County sent Tripp Wiggins to the mound but he fared no better than Beck.
The Tigers wasted no time getting on the board as leadoff man Brandon Chapman singled, stole second and came in on Marchman’s single. Demetri Stanford then hit a one-out double but Wiggins retired the next two men to get out of the jam.
Swainsboro, however, got to Wiggins for four runs in the second as it pounded out five hits, the big blow being a two-run double by Chapman. The Tigers sent 10 men to the plate and by the time the dust had settled the game basically was no longer in doubt.
The Redskins offense continued to struggle with Cooper Ennis singling in the second and Sean Kelly Hill picking up a single in the fourth. Hill added a double in the sixth that produced his team’s only run of the night.
Tanner Ennis drew a walk to lead off the sixth and Hill wasted no time turning on a Peyton Mason fastball and driving it down the leftfield line. Ennis never slowed and slid across the plate in a cloud of dust to snap the drought.