Ninth-inning home run ends Lee County baseball season

GUYTON — A walk-off, two-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning by South Effingham’s Noah Hollis broke a 7-7 tie Thursday evening near Savannah and sent the Mustangs to the Elite Eight in the Class AAAAAA baseball playoffs while the Lee County Trojans headed home for the season.

It was Game 3 of the three-game series that began on Wednesday with the Trojans winning the first one with a four-run rally in the seventh and then falling 2-0 in Game 2.

“It was an incredible game,” said Lee County head coach Brian Trivette. “And it was a tough one to lose.”

The Mustangs jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first two innings against Trojan senior Chandler Cannon. Trailing 6-1 in the fifth, Lee County senior center fielder Kaden Wilson smacked a line drive over the left field fence to close the gap, then Cooper Ray belted a grand slam in the top of the seventh to tie the game 7-7 and send the game into extra innings.

After entering the game in the eighth inning and getting out of the inning with no runs, Lee County pitcher Owen Greene walked the second batter of the inning and after a sacrifice bunt, Hollis homered over the left field fence to win the game.

In Game 1, Ray doubled in two runs in the top of the seventh to break a 2-2 tie and put the Trojans ahead. Luke Addison followed with a double to knock in another run. Ray and Luke Addison each knocked in two runs in game one and Smith Pinson pitched the entire game for the Trojans. He allowed only one hit and one earned run.

Greene was on the mound in Game 2 for the Trojans and allowed only three hits with no earned runs, but two errors in the fifth inning allowed the Mustangs to score two runs. Meanwhile, South Effingham’s Kaleb Johnson pitched a complete game and the Trojans managed only three hits against him.

The season ends for the Trojans with a 13-23 record while the Mustangs (26-9) move on to face Pope High School in the Elite Eight. Two Lee County’s region foes — Houston County and Valdosta advanced to the Elite Eight.

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