CANEY BAY — Pierce County fell to Brantley County 7-4 on the road in Caney Bay last Monday, March 3.
A second game with the Herons scheduled for Thursday, March 6 was not reported.
PCHS was scheduled to host Vidalia Monday, March 10. The Bears travel to Vidalia Saturday, March 15 for an 11 a.m. first pitch.
Tattnall County visits Monday, March 17 at 5 p.m., with PCHS making the return trip Saturday, March 22.
Brantley Co. ...........7 Bears .....................4
Brantley County capitalized on the erratic pitching of the Bears, who walked 10, hit one batter and uncorked eight wild pitches.
PCHS plated three runs in the second inning in taking the early lead against Dalton Bennett (2.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 K, 3 BB, 1 HBP).
Grayson Arington (1for-3) reached on a oneout single and moved into scoring position on an errant pickoff attempt. Luke Stone was hit by a pitch and Colt Hickox walked loading the bases.
A walk to James Alonso forced home Arington.
A two-out walk pushed Stone home. Hickox scored on a passed ball for a 3-0 lead.
The Herons cut the margin to 3-2 with two runs in the bottom of the inning against Gavin Schreiber (2.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 K, 3 BB, 1 WP).
Parker Rentz (1-for-1) and Rylee Young (1-for-3) lined consecutive oneout hits. After the pair executed a double steal, Rentz swiped home. Ethan Sherrod (1-for-2) followed the theft with a run-scoring single cutting the deficit to one run.
After leaving the bases loaded in the third inning, Brantley County scored three times in the fourth against Graham Thomas (2.o IP, 1 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 5 K, 7 BB, 6 WP) to take a 5-3 lead.
Tallan Collins reached on a one-out walk. Eli Thomas (1-for-4) kept the inning alive when he reached on a two-out, dropped third strike. Collins raced to third and Thomas to second on the play.
Both runners scored when Bennett’s (2-for-4) grounder was thrown away for a two-base error giving Brantley County the lead for good at 4-3. After consecutive walks to Clark Carter and Dennis Raulerson loaded the bases, Bennett scooted home on a wild pitch for the two-run advantage.
PCHS was turned away in the top of the fifth after loading the bases with two outs with a walk to Christian Osborne (1-for-2), a single by Isaac Chancey (3-for-4) and Zayden Council (1-for-2) getting hit by a pitch.
The Herons extended their lead to 7-3 in the bottom of the inning. A leadoff walk to Rentz and back-to-back, two-out walks to Collins and Ethan Sherrod (1-for-2) loaded the bases. Thomas belted a two-run double for the four-run margin.
The Bears came away empty in the sixth against Ellis Westover (2.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 K, 4 BB, 2 HBP) after loading the bases. Arington walked with one out, Hickox was hit by a two-out pitch and Alonso walked BCHS was also stymied with Hickox (1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 K, 0 BB, 1 WP) escaping a bases loaded situation on a two-out single by Westover (1-for-3), Rentz getting hit and Young reaching on catcher’s interference.
Pierce County scored once in the seventh after loading the bases for a third consecutive inning. Osborne and Chancey line back-to-back singles to start the frame. Council worked a walk to load the bases.
A wild pitch scored Osborne ahead of a four-pitch walk to Brantley Willis re-loading the bases. Westover regrouped retiring the next two batters with the final out coming on an attempted steal of home.
