Brantley County’s pre-season lofty ranking in the Class A Division I Top 10 poll will take a hit after the second-ranked Herons opened the season with two losses.
The ranking is the highest ever in the pre-season poll for Brantley County. Region 1-A foe Jeff Davis is No. 1 while fellow regionmate Worth County is fourth.
The Herons dropped a 3-2 decision Friday, February 7 in a scrimmage against South Effingham in Guyton. The Mustangs plated two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning on a two-out, two-run single with the bases loaded.
BCHS was shutout in the 2025 Monday, February 10 season opener at home to Class 5A Brunswick falling 2-0.
The Herons’ Wednesday, February 12 matchup with Class 2A sixth-ranked Cook in Adel ended with an 11-1 loss in five innings.
Brantley County has a threegame slate this week. The Herons traveled Monday, February 17 to Brunswick to wrap up the season series with the Pirates.
BCHS faces Class 2A thirdranked Pierce County in a homeand- home series. The Herons hosted the Tuesday, February 18 matchup and travel Thursday, February 20 to Bearville for a 6 p.m. start.
Class 3A Long County visits Caney Bay Monday, February 24 at 6 p.m., ahead of a Tuesday, February 25 trip to Tattnall County and a Friday, February 28 visit to Long County with both games starting at 6 p.m.
Brunswick.........................2 No. 2 Herons.....................0
CANEY BAY — Back-to-back, two-out, run-scoring hits in the top of the seventh inning broke a scoreless tie lifting Brunswick in the opener for both programs.
Brantley County’s Kaden Hendrix (6.2 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 K, 1 BB, 1 HBP) and the Pirates’ Trenton Robinson (5.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 13 K, 1 BB) locked up in the pitching duel.
Hendrix, who threw 99 pitches, had one clean inning — the first. He stranded a runner in the second, third and fourth, left the bases loaded in the fifth and one in the sixth keeping the visitors from crossing home plate.
Robinson tossed 93 pitches. The lone base hit for the Herons was Colt Thrift’s one-out single in the first. The Brunswick starter retired 16 of the next 18 batters exiting after a two-out walk in the sixth. Robinson struck out the side in both the second and fifth innings.
Ninth-place batter Luke Parke led off the Brunswick seven with a single to right. Hendrix retired the next two batters with Parke advancing to second without a throw and moving to third on a groundout.
Brett Hickson lined a firstpitch, run-scoring double to break up the scoreless game. Robinson followed with a line drive to center on the seventh pitch in the at bat plating Hickson for a 2-0 lead.
Jordan Lodise, who relieved Robinson with two outs in the sixth, retired Brantley County 12-3 in the bottom of the seventh.
No. 6 Cook .......................11 Herons ..............................1
ADEL — Brady Padgett’s runscoring single in the bottom of the second inning broke a 1-all tie giving Cook the lead for good in beating the Herons in five innings.
The Hornets scored the last 11 runs including four in the bottom of the fifth after two outs and nobody on ending the game by the 10-run rule.
Brantley County managed just one run despite out-hitting the Hornets 10-9. All the hits came against Josh Skinner (5 IP, 10 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 K, 1 BB), who was credited with a 90-pitch complete game.
The Herons’ lone run came after Hendrix (1-for-3) ripped a two-out double and scored on Carson Coger’s (2-for-3) single two pitches later.
Eli Nielson (1-for-2), Jackson Rowell (1-for-2) and Thrift recorded singles in the second inning. Nielson’s courtesy runner was gunned down at the plate to end the inning.
Coger, Hayden Hickox (1-for-3) and Brody Howell (2-for-3) had consecutive two-out hits in the third inning. Howell’s was an infield hit advancing the runners 90 feet to load the bases before Skinner got the final out.
Thomas lined a one-out double in the fourth with Gaven Gafford drawing a two-out walk to keep the inning alive. Howell reached on a two-out single in the fifth.
Cook tied the score in the bottom of the first with a one-out, run-scoring single against Howell (2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 K, 0 BB). The Hornets plated three runs in the second for a 4-1 lead scoring on a single, three-base error and sacrifice fly.
They added two runs in the third against Ethan Jones (.2 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 K, 1 BB, 3 HBP) courtesy of three hit batters, a walk and a wild pitch extending the lead to 6-1.
A run in the fourth was charged to Jackson Rowell (2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 K, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 1 WP) following a leadoff single, errant two-base throwing error and a single for a 7-1 advantage. Rowell did strike out the side.
Rowell retired the first two batters in the bottom of the fifth before hitting a batter and issuing a walk. Grafford walked the first two batters he faced loading the bases and forcing home a run. A bases clearing double three pitches later ended the game.
