TIGER -- Despite taking on perennial power Lovett, the Rabun County baseball team, which had never made it past the second round of the playoffs, never flinched.
The Wildcats stunned the baseball powers-that-be Wednesday beating the favored Lions 8-1 in Game 3 to win their best-of-three series 2-1 at home and advance to the Class AA semifinals.
The victory for Rabun County (21-5) marked the first-ever trip to the Final Four for the baseball program. The last team from Rabun County to make it this far in any playoffs was the golf team, which brought home the Class AA state title in 1991.
First-year Rabun County Daniel Young said despite the underdog status on their home field, his group never doubted they could knock off the powerful Lions.
“The guys came to school today saying they were going to win,” Young said. “They just feel confident in their abilities. But I think we’re still in a little shock really because no one expected us to be here.”
The Wildcats again relied on senior hurler Stetson Scott, who one day after tossing a complete-game victory in Game 2 to keep them alive in the series, he went 6 2/3 innings on Wednesday allowing just one run to get his second win in the series.
“Normally we wouldn’t throw a guy like that the next day but he didn’t throw too many pitches (in Game 2) and our trainer said he was fine,” Young said. “He is just an amazing guy out there.”
Rabun County, which was the visiting team after losing the coin flip on Tuesday, wasted little time in jumping on the Lions. The Wildcats scored single runs in the first and second inning before Lovett trimmed the lead to 2-1 in the fifth.
Rabun County answered with a pair of runs in the sixth and blew it open with four in the seventh.
Trey Wilcox had three hits and two RBI to pace the Wildcats attack. Jacon Sego and Drew Backer had two hits each and Will McDonough had a hit and two RBI for Rabun County.
The Wildcats, the Region 8-AA champs, will have to hit the road in the semifinals traveling Region 7-AA region champ Darlington on Monday. Darlington survived its own Game 3, an 8-2 victory, in a 2-1 series win over Greater Atlanta Christian.
