Lee County wins Game 3 over Newton to take series

LEESBURG — It might have been the fastest Lee County left fielder Dallas Greene has ever ran from third base.

But the soft pop up just beyond first base carried just enough to help Greene race home.

“When I saw him (Newton second baseman Grant Burroughs) turn his back, I took off (after he caught the ball),” Greene said.

It was a good thing.

With Lee County trailing Newton for most of the third and deciding game Saturday afternoon, Josh Hatcher’s fly out was just enough for Greene to score, breaking a 2-all tie and helping the Trojans eliminate Newton 3-2 to take the best-of-three Class AAAAAA series in the Georgia High School Association’s first round of the state baseball playoffs.

The victory sends Lee County on the road to meet Region 7 champion Collins Hill in the second round that begins on Wednesday.

The Trojans (18-9) finally put away the pesky Rams who evened the series late Friday night with an eight-inning, 8-7 victory after Lee County took Game 1, 11-1, in five innings.

On Saturday, Newton gave the Trojans all they could handle again. Playing as the home team, the Rams scored a pair of runs in the first and second innings to grab a 2-0 lead. None of Newton’s hitters hit the ball hard, but they seem to strategically place their hits in the right spot to get runners on base. Then they used their speed to create chaos on the bases.

“Nobody lays down in Game 3,” Lee County coach Brandon Brock said. “We expected them to battle.”

After a testy extra-inning affair that saw Newton coach Andre Byrd and an assistant coach get tossed in Game 2, the Rams had to bring a ninth-grade coach to finish the series on Saturday.

The way Newton starter Augustus Murray kept Lee County hitters off-balanced during the first five innings, Lee’s chances at advancing looked bleak until Greene reached on an error that allowed Austin Sheltra to score in the fourth inning to cut the deficit in half.

Then Nick Bush’s RBI single in the fifth scored Malik Spratling to tie the game and chase Murray. The Rams then brought in reliever and Game 2 winner Alex Johnson, who threw more than 180 pitches in the extra-inning victory Friday night.

Johnson continued to shut down the Trojans until the sixth when Greene and Tyler Simon led off the inning with singles and Jordan Reep advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt, setting up Hatcher’s pop up that allowed Greene to score the go-ahead run.

Hatcher had the game-winning RBI on offense and after taking over on the mound with two outs in the second, earned the victory in relief. The hard-throwing lefty allowed just two hits and only one runner to get into scoring position.

He also got some strong defense from catcher Manny Chavarria in the seventh. After Mason Calloway reached on a single, Chavarria fielded Marcus Smith’s sacrifice bunt and forced the speedy Calloway out at second, then he cut down Smith moments later trying to steal second base.

That set up Alex Johnson, who flied out to Greene in left field to end the game. Hatcher pumped his fist in celebration, then high-fived his teammates.

“As soon as they gave me the tying run, the ball was in our court,” Hatcher said. “This was the first time we’ve hosted a first-round playoff game in four or five years. It feels good to move on to the second round.”

Simon and Reep finished with half of Lee’s eight hits. The duo each had a pair of hits to lead the attack.