aseball team (6-7, 2-4) tangled with the Tigers of Claxton High (8-7, 2-5) on Tuesday, March 31 in a Region 3A-A matchup in Pembroke. The home crowd saw the Redskins claw their way back for a 5-4 last inning comeback win.

Claxton pounced on the Redskins early with four runs that put Bryan County in a familiar hole and forced them to play catch up. Bryan County picked up a lone run in the bottom of the second inning against Tiger pitcher Matthew Rogers when Cody Crowe led off with a double. Cameron Lee followed with a double to score Crowe and make it 4-1. Nothing else happened until the seventh inning.

"We didn’t hit the ball well enough today," BCHS Coach Al Butler said. "We didn’t even really start playing with them until the seventh inning. Their pitcher kept us off balance all day and Claxton played well."

Southpaw Cameron Lee was the starting pitcher for Bryan County and pitched four decent innings with four runs, six hits, seven K’s, and three walks. Winning pitcher Justin Covington came on in relief in the fifth to finish the game on the hill and shut down the Tigers for zero runs, three hits, two K’s and one walk.

With the score still frozen at 4-1 heading into the seventh and final inning, the Redskin bats came to life. Crowe started the rally by reaching first base on a throwing error. Lee was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Freshman Shane Dillon entered the game and produced an RBI single that scored Crowe to push the score to 4-2. Justin Pruitt followed with a fielder’s choice that scored Lee to edge Bryan County to within one run of Claxton. Tyler Moody then singled and advanced Pruitt to third base. Kurt Shuman rapped a single that scored Pruitt and tied the game at 4-4.

With Moody now standing on third base as the winning run, Justin Covington came to the plate hoping to be the game winning hero. He never got that chance as Claxton relief pitcher Tyler Brazell threw a wild pitch in the dirt that scooted to the backstop and allowed Moody to dash in from third for the game winning score.

"It was nice to win one like this, and hopefully it will carry over for us, but I was disappointed overall in the way we came out so flat," Butler said. "We never really got into the baseball mood until the score was 4-2. I’m disappointed in that because every game is a must win game for us right now, so we need to come out fired up. I am proud of the way Shane Dillon came in and produced two big hits for us, especially since he is only a freshman. That was really big."

Leading the way offensively for Bryan County was Dillon (2 for 2, 2 singles, RBI), Crowe (2 for 3, Single, double, 2 runs), Shuman (2 for 4, 2 singles, RBI) and Lee (1-2, double, RBI).