By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          Playing for a spot in a state championship is nothing new for Tattnall.

          For Bleckley County, it’s very much the opposite.

          Tattnall is in its first semifinal in, well, a year and a day, the Trojans facing FPD last year on May 15 and winning in two.

          Bleckley County? It’s been awhile. Like since when Atlanta hosted the Olympics, 1996.

          The Royals are newbies to the semifinals and host another veteran team, Jeff Davis, in a GHSA Class A semifinal starting at 4:30 p.m., 30 minutes after Tattnall starts its Class A-Private series with Hebron Christian.

          The winners of the three-game series advance to next week’s state championships, AA at Luther Williams Field and A-Private in Savannah.

          Jeff Davis is in its third straight semifinal, having won the AA title in 2017 over Elbert County. The Yellow Jackets are 28-5, winners of six of their last seven, and owners of wins over 7A Colquitt County and Tift County, and 5A Jones County, among others.

          The Yellow Jackets and Royals split their two games last year.

          Bleckley County is 25-12, having won Region 3-AA.

          The Royals made a first-round exit last year as the No. 2 team in the region, losing in three to Harlem, which lost in the second round.

          A year before that, the first-place Royals hammered Early County in two, edged Heard County in three, and lost in the quarterfinals to Bacon County in two, 7-3 and 14-4. They lost in the second round n 2016.

          So this is very much a new place for the current Royals, who have wins this season over.

          The Royals started out 0-4, losing to Gainesville, Savannah Christian, West Laurens, and Jeff Davis. Gainesville is a 6A program that had a rare down year, West Laurens reached the 4A quarterfinals and lost in three to Denmark, Savannah Christian is a Class A-Private semifinalist.

          And, of course, the Yellow Jackets are in Cochran today. Jeff Davis won that game 11-2, and then won again 4-3 less than a week later, helping put Bleckley County in a 2-6 overall hole entering March.

          Since then, the Royals are a pretty sharp 23-6.  Their lone two-game losing streak came against Washington County and Fitzgerald in mid-April.

          There are plenty of multi-purpose Royals leading the way.

          Brody Little, Steven Knighton, Carson Waters, and Trip Purser are all position players and pitchers. Little has a 1.45 ERA to go with a .414 postseason batting average.

          Purser has a 3.25 ERA, Waters is hitting .390 with 39 runs, and Knighton has five homers and 40 RBI to go with a .345 average.

          Center fielder Lane Kitchens hits .395 atop the lineup and has 44 runs.

 

Tattnall survives quarters

          The Trojans won an epic Game 3 over Strong Rock, 7-6 in eight innings.

          That came a day after a rare home shutout loss, 7-0. The last time the Trojans were shut out anywhere?

          On May 1, 2015, 7-0 to King’s Ridge in the 2015 champoinship third game.

          It was Tattnall’s second loss of the year, first since losing 4-1 to Calvary Christian on March 29.

          That big win could be quite the boost against a Hebron Christian team not expected to be here.

          The Lions are 19-14-1, and finished tied for fourth in Region 8.

          The teams played in the 2016 championship, Tattnall winning 2-1, 3-5, and 5-0.

          Among those in a Tattnall uniform that year: B.J. Spears, Trey Ham, and Miles Morris, the Trojans key seniors this year.

          Spears leads Tattnall with a .469 average, Ham shares the team lead in homers with six with junior Brooks Gorman while also hitting .402, Morris is batting 398 and is second with 39 runs.

          The pitching staff is pretty much all underclassmen, led by Gorman, who is 14-0 with a .42 ERA, his 83 innings double next most-active Trojan, Dawson Brown, who is back after missing time with an injury. Gorman has 117 strikeouts and 22 walks.

 

 

GHSA State baseball championships

Luther Williams Field

          Monday, May 20, Class AA: Jeff Davis/Bleckley County vs. Callaway/Rockmart

          Tuesday, May 21, Class AAA: – North Hall/Pace Academy vs. Hart County/Pike County

Grayson Stadium, Savannah

Monday, May 20, Class A-Public: Irwin County/Schley County vs. Bowdon/Gordon Lee

          Tuesday, May 21, Class A-Private: Hebron Christian/Tattnall vs. Wesleyan/Savannah Christian

State Mutual Stadium, Rome

          Tuesday, May 21, Class 4A: Northside-Columbus/North Oconee, Denmark/Blessed Trinity

          Wednesday, May 22, Class 6A: Pope at Harrison, Effingham County at Heritage-Conyers

Coolray Field, Lawrenceville

          Monday, May 20, Class 5A: Locust Grove at Loganville, Ola at Decatur

          Third game if needed is at SunTrust Park

SunTrust Park

          Monday, Class 7A: Parkview at North Gwinnett, Grayson at Hillgrove;

         

          Tickets are $13, with an addition $2 surcharge at SunTrust, Coolray, and State Farm.