Lee County sweeps McEachern

LEESBURG — A handful of Major League Baseball scouts came to watch McEachern High School baseball pitcher Alex Speas and his 97-mile per hour fastball Friday in the first round of the Georgia High School Association Class AAAAAA state baseball playoffs at Lee County.

But after Josh Hatcher cracked a three-run homer off the flame-throwing right-hander in the first inning of Game 1 and Speas was lifted after just one inning, the scouts had saw all they needed to see.

Lee County staked itself to a four-run advantage in Game 1 and posted a 4-1 victory. Then Garet Morrell hurled a gem in the nightcap as Lee took a 2-1 victory to advance to the second round.

The Trojans will play host to top-ranked Walton, who swept Archer in its first-round series. The best-of-three second series begins Wednesday.

Speas struggled with control on Friday and his fastball wasn’t clocked anywhere near 90 before leaving the mound with a four-run deficit. Speas surrendered a pair of walks to leadoff batter Tyler Simon and Garret Morrell before Hatcher smoked a fastball over the fence in right center field.

“We were taking until he threw a strike and then when he threw that first one down the middle, I knew he was going to take something off the next one,” Hatcher said. “I was looking for the fast ball. I prepared myself all week, watched film on him and I had played against him last summer. I just geared myself up for the fast ball and was determined not to miss it.”

Garrett Suiter’s sacrifice fly scored Brenton Phillips for a 4-0 advantage.

It was a good thing because McEachern reliever Keyshawn Askew allowed just four hits in six innings to keep the Indians within striking distance.

But Lee County starter Tyler Goff and reliever Andrew Wingate combined to allow just one run on three hits.

Then Morrell took advantage of a pair of runs in the third inning of the second game to build a 2-0 advantage and the senior right-hander did the rest.

He allowed just a run on three hits despite showing obvious signs of fatigue throughout the game. But each time it appeared Morrell was done, he figured out a way to battle back.

Before Morrell, who was also the team’s quarterback, induced No. 9 hitter Rod Ransom to fly out to second baseman Jonathan Logsdon to end the game, the right-hander had exceeded 100 pitches and Lee coaches had decided it would be his last batter.

But Morrell finished off McEachern before coaches made a call to the bullpen.

“He wanted it,” Lee coach Brandon Brock said. “He knew he was struggling but gosh darn, he found a way to finish it. That football mentality definitely came through in him tonight.”

Simon, Hatcher and Suiter collected two hits each to lead the Lee offense in Game 2.