For the first time since 2014, the White County Warriors are headed to the state baseball playoffs.
The Warriors clinched a spot in the Class AAA playoffs with a 7-3 win over West Hall Tuesday in Cleveland. The win improved the Warriors' record to 10-3 in region play, assuring the squad will finish among the top four teams in the regular season region race.
In 2014, the Warriors finished as the No. 4 seed in region 7-AAA and fell to Cartersville in the opening round of the state tournament. With five games left on the region slate, the Warriors are still in the hunt for the top spot in the region standings.
“I'm excited for the kids,” WCHS head coach Jim Waits said. “I'm not sure the last time we've been there, but these guys have worked hard and they deserve the chance to go (to the state tournament), but there is still a lot of work left to do.”
The last three weeks of the regular season schedule could be interesting as Warriors, North Hall, Cherokee Bluff, and West Hall battle for playoff seeding.
Heading into Wednesday's game, North Hall is the leader in the house with a 9-1 record, including a 4-0 win over Cherokee Bluff Monday in the opening game of the series. North Hall will finish the series with Cherokee Bluff this week, and have series with Dawson County and West Hall to close out the regular season.
The Warriors (14-6) and Spartans have identical 10-3 records in region play, with the Warriors currently holding the tiebreaker between the two teams. WCHS and West Hall played Game 2 of the series Wednesday in Oakwood, and will close out the series Friday afternoon in Cleveland.
The Warriors finish up the region slate next week with three games against Cherokee Bluff, which is currently 7-3 with two games left against North Hall. After the series with the WCHS, the Bears finish the season with the games against Gilmer County.
While the Warriors have clinched the state playoff spot, there is plenty of work to be done as they have plans to make a run at the top two spots in the region and a home date in the first round of the playoffs.
Everyone associated with both programs knows this series will have huge implications on the region race. Waits said he wanted to make sure his team understood the importance of the series, as well as making sure the kids were ready to play with school being out for spring break.
“We talked before the game and I told them 'this is the biggest series of the year', and we needed to come out and win Game 1,” Waits said. “I wasn't sure if we were awake and everything, but we responded well. You've got different things going on.”
If the Warriors weren't awake when the game started, they woke up quickly in the first inning.
WCHS starter Caleb Reddy needed just seven pitches to sit down the Spartans in the first inning, which with Kyler Mayo making a diving catch on a line drive to right field.
After Reddy's quick work, the Warriors got their first look at West Hall starter Brandon Simms in the bottom of the inning.
Simms posted a 3-0 record in his first three region starts this season, picking up complete game wins over Lumpkin County (8-0), Gilmer County (4-0) and Cherokee Bluff (2-1), and the Warriors planned to disrupt Simms' rhythm and routine.
“He's a good pitcher, he's one of the best in the region,” Waits said about Sims. “That's kind of the book we had on him; he likes to work on rhythm. We told our guys, take some pitches, step out and make him break his routine, break his rhythm. We did a good job with it. We saw a lot of pitches.”
Rylee Higgins followed the plan to perfection leading off the bottom of the inning, working out of an 0-2 count for a seven-pitch walk from Simms. Jake Johnson followed with a sacrifice bunt to move Higgins to second and put some early pressure on Simms.
J. Ben Haynes gave the Warriors an early lead, lifting a long fly ball over the center field fence just right of the flag pole for a 2-run home run, the first home run of his high school career.
“The big thing for us was to jump on them early,” Wait said. We had a good first inning. Rylee got it going with a good at-bat, getting a walk and the it was a big home run by J. Ben. It was his first one, and we've been waiting for that one. It was really important to score some early runs.”
Gilmer cut the lead in half in the third inning with a run, but Reddy stayed away from anymore trouble, and the Warriors added to the lead with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Nate Bray started the inning with a single and Dylan Sargent doubled to right field to put runners at second and third. One out later, Blake Kelley walked to load the bases, and Bailee Patterson followed with a single to score Bray for a 3-1 lead.
Mark Daniels, who made two stellar defensive plays in the game at third base, helped his team with the bat, ripping a ground ball into left field to score a pair of runs for a 5-1 lead.
Reddy needed only eight pitches to get through the fifth inning, but ran into some trouble in the sixth. After a single by Justin Shaffer, Kyle Murphy drilled a two-run home run over the left field fence to make it 5-3. Reddy got the first out of the inning on a fly ball, but Nick Strum doubled to right center to put another runner in scoring position.
Waits decided to make a pitching change, bringing in Sargent. Sargent got a pair of ground balls to get out of the inning, with Daniels making a nice play on a high hopper in the hole and throwing out Tyler Maynard to end the scoring threat.
In the bottom of the inning, the Warriors came up with a couple of insurance runs to put the Spartans away.
Kelley singled, Daniels was hit by a pitch, and Higgins had a hit to load the bases. Johnson drew a bases loaded walk to force in a run, and a Haynes' ground ball pushed home a run to make it 7-3.
Sargent walked the leadoff batter in the top of the seventh inning, but got the next three Spartans on a strikeout and a pair of fly balls to pick up his second save of the season.
Reddy scattered five hits over 5.1 innings, allowing two earned runs with one strikeout and no walks. Sargent allowed a walk and struckout one in 1.2 scoreless innings.
“Caleb pitched well and Dylan came in and did the job,” Waits said. “Caleb has kept us in every game he's pitched. He always gives us a chance to win and that's all we can ask. Just give us a chance to score some runs and make some plays for you. He did a great job today, and he's done a great job all year.”
Bray finished with two hits and a run, while Haynes had a hit, scored once and drove in three runs. Kelley had a hit, and scored twice, while Daniels had a hit, scored once and drove in two runs. Higgins, and Sargent each had a hit and scored a run, while Johnson and Patterson each had a hit and drove in a run.
The Warriors were without one of their key hitters, senior designated hitter Evan Chambers, who was out of town due to a family emergency.
“We're missing our DH (Chambers), who I think is leading us in RBIs, but Blake Kelley stepped in did a great job,” Waits said. “We did a good job of not letting Simms get in a rhythm and we got guys on base and scored some runs. It was a good win.”
Gilmer series
Last week, the Warriors split the final two games of the region series with Gilmer County.
The Bobcats handed the Warriors an unexpected 3-2 loss April 1, but the Warriors bounced back and posted a 7-1 win last Friday in the series finale.
In the finale, the Warriors used five hits and seven walks to key the offensive effort, while Johnson picked up the win with solid five innings of work on the mound.
Haynes had a hit, scored three runs and drove in a run, while Mayo and Kelley each had a hit hit and drove in a run. Johnson and Bray each had a hit and scored a run, and Higgins drew a pair of walks and scored a run, and Caleb Gee scored a run.
Johnson allowed an unearned run on five hits and a walk, while striking out five. Sargent worked two scoreless innings, allowing a hit and a walk with three strikeouts.
In the loss to the Bobcats, the Warriors out hit Gilmer 6-4 and were aided by four walks and three errors, but couldn't come out with the win as the Bobcats scored a pair of runs in the first inning and one in the fifth to get their first region victory of the season.
Johnson, Chambers, Sargent and Kelley all had a hit, with Chambers and Kelley each driving in a run, while Johnson and Mayo scored a run.
Patterson pitched a complete game, allowing two earned runs on four hits and three walks, while striking out three.