The Richmond Hill baseball team remained undefeated in Region 2-AAAAAA with three victories over Brunswick last week and one against Effingham.
The Wildcats are now 13-6 overall and 4-0 in the region. They were scheduled to play at Effingham Wednesday night and host the Rebels at 6 p.m. Friday.
Richmond Hill scored twice in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat Brunswick 3-2 at home on March 22. The Wildcats had beaten the Pirates 4-1 at Brunswick two nights earlier.
With the bases loaded and the scored tied at 2-2, Mike Menhart scored from third base on Will Shuman’s sacrifice fly to center field. The Wildcats had tied the score two at bats earlier when Kasey Green scored on Brandon Becker’s pinch hit single to right field.
"It doesn’t matter if it happens in the first inning or the seventh inning, that’s just baseball," Wildcat coach Stacy Bennett said afterward. "We got some very gutsy at bats late in the game."
Green had reached base on a walk to begin the seventh inning, then advanced to second on Kip Gibson’s single. Menhart pinch ran for Gibson, and Will McGrath drew a walk to load the bases.
Brunswick scored once in the first inning and again in the fourth to take a 2-0 lead. Richmond Hill got on the board in the bottom of the fifth when Will McGrath’s double scored Chris Sewell from second base. Sewell reached base on a fielder’s choice and advanced to second when Brunswick’s pitcher was charged with a balk.
Brunswick’s run in the fourth inning came on a walk with the bases loaded and no outs, but Matt Overstreet, the third pitcher of the game for the Wildcats, struck out the next two batters and then threw out the final batter of the inning at first base on a checked swing.
"To get out of that inning giving up just one run was huge," Bennett said. "Usually momentum in baseball is associated with offense, but sometimes it can be pitching and defense. That was a big swing to shut them down like that."
Tyler Harrison finished the game on the mound for the Wildcats and picked up the win, not allowing any base runners in the sixth or seventh innings.
"We’d have used 20 pitchers if that’s what it took," Bennett said. "Our bullpen did a great job."
Richmond Hill followed that up with a 10-2 win at Brunswick two days later. Braden Henle had three RBIs and Rick Mitchell added two.
At Effingham on Monday, Gibson and Jackson Finley each went 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI.
Bryan County
The Redskins beat Swainsboro 9-0 Tuesday for their first Region 2-AA win. Bryan County is now 12-9 overall and 1-6 in the region. The Redskins were scheduled to play at Beach on Wednesday and host Swainsboro at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
Last Friday, Benedictine was as hot as the chili cook-off put on by the Bryan County baseball parents as the top-ranked team in the state cruised to a five-inning 15-2 victory in Pembroke.
The Cadets, now 6-0 in Region 2-AA, scored twice in the top of the first inning, then five more times with two outs in the top of the second inning.
"We’ve struggled with two outs all season," Redskins coach Jason Roundtree said afterward. "We’ve probably given up 20 runs in that situation."
Benedictine’s runs came on two doubles, two walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch.
"There’s a reason they’re ranked No. 1," Roundtree said. "They are very good fundamentally."
Bryan County scored its first run in the bottom of the third inning when Grayson Ward beat out an infield grounder, then stole second base and advanced to third on a fielder’s choice, eventually crossing the plate on a wild pitch to make it 8-1.
J.J. Strickland scored Bryan County’s second run in the bottom of the fourth inning, reaching first base on a fielding error and advancing to second on a missed pick-off attempt. With the bases loaded following a hit batter, Strickland crossed the plate when Ward was also hit by a pitch.
Roundtree said despite having several upperclassmen on the team, the Redskins are a young squad.
"We’re young in terms of baseball experience," he said. "We also have freshmen and sophomores starting on varsity instead of gaining experience on JV. The effort is there, just not the results."