Baconton Charter holds off pesky Lanier County to advance

BACONTON — Will Bush wasted little time when the high, chopping ground ball bounced his way at third base.

With the bases loaded and the Baconton Charter Blazers needing just one out to win the best-of-three state baseball playoff series, Bush speared the ball off the bat of Lanier County’s Robert Zirkle, then raced to his left to step on the bag and force out the runner.

The final out preserved a 14-11 victory for the Blazers to clinch the first round series over Lanier County in the Georgia High School Association Class A public school state tournament Saturday.

“I wanted the ball,” said Bush, who also earned the victory on the mound after starting the third game.

“I got what I wanted. I knew we needed to step up and make plays. I wanted to be the one to do it.”

The series victory sends the Blazers into the second round where they will meet third-ranked Trion, who swept Clinch County in its series on Friday. The Bulldogs (20-5) will bring the state’s best hitter in Gabe Howell with them.

But that series, scheduled to start on Wednesday, will have to wait for a few days. The Blazers (20-8) were finally glad to finish off a pesky Lanier County team that gave them all they could handle.

After losing Game 2 on Friday, 7-2, to force a third and deciding game, Baconton wasting no time on Saturday to take control. Playing as the visiting team, the Blazers sent 10 batters to the plate in the first inning and scored six runs on four hits. The big blow was an RBI single by Taber Raley and a triple from Turner Shiver that cleared the bases.

Lanier, however, chipped away at Baconton’s lead and cut the deficit to 7-5 with a four-run third inning.

Baconton appeared to have established itself some breathing room with a four-run fifth to make it 12-7, but Lanier scratched home four runs in the sixth to threaten.

However, Brantley Morgan’s RBI groundout and a squeeze bunt accounted for a pair of Baconton runs to give them a three-run cushion heading to the bottom of the seventh.

Raley allowed a leadoff single, then quickly got a pair of groundouts. But he walked a batter, then allowed an infield single to load the bases before getting Bush to spear Zirkle’s groundout to end the game and the series.

“Everytime we got ahead, they kept battling back,” Baconton coach Bubber Birdsong said of Lanier County. “To get down by six runs early in the game and battle back the way they did, you have to tip your hat to those guys for battling back.”

Baconton finished with 14 runs on 13 hits. Raley led the offense, going 4 for 5 with a pair of doubles and an RBI. Morgan finished 3 for 5 with three RBIs, while Grant Smithwick and Christian Bostick finished with two hits apiece. Bostick’s RBI single keyed the four-run fifth.