Baconton Charter Blazers Set For Final Four Showdown With Defending Champion Lanier County Bulldogs

BACONTON – For the first time in school history, the road to the state Final Four leads the Baconton Charter Blazers into the heart of a South Georgia baseball dynasty.

The Blazers will travel to Lakeland on Wednesday carrying the biggest baseball dreams their program has ever known, preparing to face two-time defending state champion Lanier County Bulldogs in the Class A Division I semifinals.

And inside the Baconton Charter dugout, there is no fear — only focus.

“Our guys are really focused and locked in,” first-year head coach Marc Logue said. “Practice has been really, really good.”

The stakes could hardly be bigger.

The Blazers (25-8) are one series victory away from advancing to next week’s state championship series in Statesboro — the goal Logue set when the season began. But standing in their way is one of the state’s premier programs.

Lanier County enters the series 29-4 overall, ranked No. 1 in Class A Division I and chasing a third straight state championship. The Bulldogs’ senior class has piled up 123 victories during one of the most dominant four-year runs in Georgia high school baseball.

Game one of the best-of-three series is scheduled for Wednesday at 5 p.m. in Lakeland, with game two set for 7 p.m. If a third game is needed, it will be played Thursday at 4 p.m.

The atmosphere awaiting Baconton Charter is expected to feel more like a college regional than a Class A semifinal, with packed stands, postseason pressure and a championship-tested program defending its home field beneath the South Georgia lights.

“The games are late so they can make sure all of their people will be there,” Logue said. “It will be a big crowd and it will be loud. I’m hoping we have a big crowd come over, too.”

Logue knows exactly what his team is walking into.

“They are a very complete team,” Logue said. “Their pitching staff is the best in our division and they have several batters that can really swing.”

The centerpiece of Lanier County’s roster is senior ace Grant Gano, a Georgia Southern signee whose fastball routinely reaches 90 miles per hour. Last week, Gano struck out 13 batters against a talented Wilcox County team as the Bulldogs swept their way into the Final Four once again.

Moments like this, however, are exactly why Logue challenged his team throughout the regular season with difficult non-region games.

“The reason I scheduled some of these non-region games was so we could see some stronger pitching,” Logue said. “We’ve been working on being prepared to face that kind of pitching, but we are going to have to play our butts off to get to Statesboro.”

Still, Baconton Charter did not reach the Final Four by accident.

The Blazers arrive in Lakeland having won nine of their last 10 games and playing their best baseball of the season. Their pitching rotation has become one of the team’s greatest strengths during the postseason run.

Left-hander Hudson Coronati and right-hander Daniel Cruz both threw complete games as Baconton Charter swept Irwin County in the Elite Eight. If the series reaches a deciding third game, senior Corbin Suggs is expected to take the mound.

And behind those pitchers stands what Logue believes may be the best defense in the classification.

“We’ve probably got the best defense in the class,” Logue said. “So we are going to need that in this series.”

Now, the smallest school left standing in Class A Division I heads into the biggest week in program history.

Wednesday night in Lakeland, the Blazers will not simply be playing for a trip to Statesboro.

They will be playing for the biggest victory Baconton Charter baseball has ever seen.