Timely hitting and dominate pitching helped Pierce County to a threegame Region 3-AA sweep of Crisp County.
The Bears (15-5 overall, 7-2 region), ranked second by ScoreAtlanta/Atlanta Journal-Constitution and fourth by MaxPreps, ended a two-game skid breaking away from the Cougars (5-16, 0-6) to record a 10-4 home win Tuesday, March 25.
PCHS jumped out to an early 7-0 lead Thursday, March 27 in Cordele and coasted to a 9-1 victory to clinch the series.
The Bears followed with a 12-0 rout in five innings in the Friday, March 28 finale.
Pierce County finishes up region play with big series against Score-Atlanta/AJC
and Max-Preps
seventh-ranked Cook (15-5, 3-2) this week with two of the three games being played in Adel. The Bears traveled Tuesday, 1 with the series shifting to Bearville Thursday, April 3 for a 6 p.m. matchup. The series finale is Friday, April 4 on the road at 6 p.m.
PCHS has a two-game series with Long County in Ludowici Tuesday, April 8 and Wednesday, April 9 in the next to last week of the regular season. Washington County visits Thursday, April 10.
Game 1 No. 2 Bears.............10 Crisp County............4
BEARVILLE — Pierce County scored six runs after two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning to break away from a 4-all tie in the series opener.
Jack McClellan (1-for-3) got the inning started with a single. He was sacrificed to second by Dylan Figueroa and moved to third on a passed ball. Beck Hodges (1-for-2) was hit by a two-out pitch to keep the inning alive starting a stretch of eight consecutive Bears reaching.
After Hodges stole second, Chance Williams (2for-4) lifted a fly ball to right which was misplayed into a two-run, two-base error giving PCHS a 6-4 lead. A walk to Christian Osbourne (1for-2) was followed by Emmitt Hall’s (1-for-1) run-scoring single plating Williams.
Dylan Johnson (1-for-4) reached on an infield hit loading the bases. Three consecutive walks to Jonathan Stone, McClellan and Figueroa each forced home a run to finish out the scoring.
Crisp County scored twice in its first at bat against Jones Herrin (4 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 5 K, 3 BB). The Cougars scored on a two-out single and an error.
PCHS got one of the runs back in the bottom of the first. Williams delivered a leadoff infield hit, stole second and moved to third on a groundout. After a walk to Hall, Johnson’s speed foiled a Crisp County inning-ending bid of a double play scoring Williams cutting the deficit to 2-1.
A three-run third inning gave the Bears their first lead at 4-2. Hodges lined a leadoff single and moved around to third on an errant pickoff attempt. He scored on an infield hit by Williams tying the score at 2apiece.
A walk to Osbourne and Hall getting hit by a pitch loaded the bases. Johnson’s fielder’s choice groundout scored Williams for a 3-2 lead. After Hall and Johnson moved up on a passed ball, Stone’s ensuing groundout scored Hall for a two-run advantage.
The Cougars tied the score in the top of the fourth with a pair of unearned runs. A walk and consecutive errors aided the first run. A single followed driving home the tying run to even the score at 4-apiece.
Brantley Willis (3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K, 1 BB) replaced Herrin to start the fifth.
Game 2 No. 2 Bears............................9 Crisp County..........................1
CORDELE — The Bears scored seven runs over the first three innings en route to clinching the series against Crisp County.
PCHS scored once in the first inning, twice in the second and four times in the third staking Hall (6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 K, 2 BB, 1 WP) to a 7-0 lead.
Johnson’s (2-for-4) one-out base hit drove home the first inning run. Williams (2-for-3) opened the game with a four-pitch walk, stole second with one out and scored when Johnson leveled off a 2-1 pitch to center.
The Bears extended the lead to 30 in the second on a RBI single by Mark Sweet (1-for-3) and a run-scoring double off the bat of Williams.
Figueroa (1-for-2) drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on Sweet’s base hit. Sweet stole second and scored on a two-out double to right-center by Williams.
Pierce County pulled away in the third inning scoring four times for a 7-0 advantage. Hall (1-for-3) had the only base hit lining a single to start the inning that included two hit batters and four walks. He was removed for courtesy runner James Alonzo, who moved into scoring position on a passed ball.
Stone (removed for courtesy runner Grayson Arington) and McClellan were each hit in a fourpitch sequence loading the bases. An ensuing walk to Figueroa forced home Alonzo with the first run of the inning.
A four-pitch walk to Hodges forced home Arington. McClellan scored on a passed ball ahead of Williams walking. Figueroa followed suit scoring on a passed ball for the final run ahead of Osborne walking.
Hall struggled in the third before righting the ship. An error, a single and a walk loaded the bases. HE sandwiched two strikeouts around a pop fly to get out of the jam.
The Cougars scored a run in the fourth. A leadoff single, balk, ground out and sacrifice fly plated the run cutting the lead to 7-1.
PCHS added single runs in the fifth and sixth inning on a two-out wild pitch and a RBI groundout by McClellan.
Johnson pitched the seventh in relief of Hall surrendering a hit. He fanned the final two batters.
Game 3 No. 2 Bears ..........................12 Crisp County .........................0
BEARVILLE — PCHS broke away from a 3-0 lead with an eight-run third inning in the “mercy rule” win over the Cougars.
Jaxon Harris (4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 7 K, 0 BB, 1 HBP) and Garrett Stevenson (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 K, 1 BB) combined on the two-hit shutout.
The Bears took charge of the game with a three-run second inning. McClellan (2-for-2) started the rally with a leadoff single with Figueroa (1for-2) getting hit by the ensuing pitch.
McClellan scored from second on Stone’s fielder’s choice groundout. After Sweet (2-for-3) reached on an error, a sacrifice bunt by Hodges (1for-2) was misplayed allowing both Stone and Sweet to score for a 3-0 lead.
Eleven consecutive PCHS batters reached in the third inning following the first out. Johnson (2-for-3) reached on a single and raced around to third on McClellan’s infield hit.
Figueroa followed McClellan’s stolen base with a two-run double for a 5-0 advantage. An 11-pitch walk to Stone was followed by a run-scoring single by Sweet. A base hit by Hodges loaded the bases.
Williams (1-for-4) delivered a runscoring single followed by a walk to Osbourne forcing home a run. Hall (2-for-4), Johnson and Herrin, pinch-hitting, lined three straight run-scoring singles for an 11-0 lead.
PCHS added a run in the fourth. After Sweet singled to start the inning, back-to-back errors on balls hit by Hodges and Williams loaded the bases. Sweet raced home to score on the ensuing double play groundout.
