Lee County earns series split with Newton

LEESBURG — The ball left slowly off Parker Kauffman’s bat but just enough for Newton’s Mason Calloway to score from third, giving the Rams an 8-7 victory in Game 2 of the best-of-three Class AAAAAA series late Friday night at Lee County High School.

After the Trojans erupted for an 11-1 victory in the first game, the two teams will play the third and deciding game this morning at 11 a.m.

The winner will travel to Region 7 champion Collins Hill, who swept South Gwinnett in its first round series, in the second round of the state playoffs that begins on Wednesday. But all of that is second thoughts — at least for now.

“That is the fastest team we’ve played this season,” Lee County coach Brandon Brock said. “I know we put about 10 of them on base with walks and passed balls and stuff. We can’t let teams hang around.”

The Trojans (17-9) couldn’t carry their momentum into Game 2 after erupting for an offensive explosion in the first game.

Newton found new life in the nightcap, playing small ball and chipping away at Lee County’s lead.

Lee, playing as the visiting team in Game 2, built a 3-0 lead in the first inning before Newton slowly pecked away at the lead. They took the lead at 6-5 in the bottom of the sixth before Lee rallied to tie the game in the seventh, forcing extra innings.

Austin Sheltra’s deep sacrifice fly scored Josh Hatcher in the top of the eighth to make it 7-6 and gave the Trojans some breathing room. But Newton pitcher Alex Johnson recorded a strikeout to get out of bases-loaded jam before the Rams rallied to win with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth.

Johnson went the distance to earn the victory.

“I think we’ll be fine (in Game 3) if we come out with the same intensity that we did in the first game,” Brock said. “But we’re not going to win games if we don’t learn how to put teams away. We allowed way too many free passes.”

But the Trojans could not be slowed down in the first game.

Simon’s run in the bottom of the fifth inning highlighted a six-run inning in which he had a triple and Dallas Greene, batting in the No. 9 spot in the lineup, had a bases-clearing double to chase Calloway.

Meanwhile, Lee starter Michael Reddick cruised. With the exception of an unearned run in the third, Reddick was near flawless. He allowed just two hits and struck out six.

Reddick benefited from an offensive explosion. The Trojans erupted for 11 hits, including a pair of two-run homers from Malik Spratling and Greene.

Spratling’s shot in the first inning spotted Lee a 2-0 advantage and the Trojans never looked back.

Lee added two more in the third, then Greene’s blast in the fourth gave Lee County a commanding 6-1 lead.

Simon, Jordan Reep, Spratling and Greene had two hits each to lead the offense.