GAINESVILLE -- North Hall seniors Corbin Lewallen and Lincoln Hewett saw first hand in 2013 the value of senior leadership. As sophomores that year, the pair were taken under the wing by the likes Griffin Olsen, Adam Kelly, and Zach Mize on the way to the Class AAA championship series.
Now, it’s their turn to pay it forward.
And what an example they demonstrated Wednesday in leading the Trojans to an impressive two-game sweep of Upson-Lee -- 9-0 and 9-2 -- in a Class AAAA second round doubleheader at Jody Davis Field.
Hewett was a blistering 8-for-9 with three RBI in the two games and Lewallen pitched a complete-game, five-hit shutout in Game 1 to set the tone.
“I’m not going to retire that bat anytime soon,” Hewett said. “I worked out a hitch in my swing over the last couple of days and it’s working well right now. To do something like that in this situation is amazing.
“As seniors I think the younger guys are looking at us so we’re trying to do what we can and show them how to do things. As a team we’re real excited about being in the Elite 8.”
North Hall (21-8) will await the winner between No. 3 Whitewater and No. 6 Pike County. The two teams split the first two games of their second round series on Wednesday. Game 3 of that series will be on Thursday.
The Trojans would travel to Whitewater and play host to Pike County next week, depending on the outcome.
“We don’t care who we get,” North Hall coach Trent Mongero said. “All the teams at this level are quality teams. But obviously we would love for our seniors to get another home series so I guess we’ll be pulling for Pike County.”
Mongero also was left a little wowed by the performance of his two star seniors.
“Corbin always gives us a chance and he was outstanding today. And when Lincoln is hitting the ball like that he’s hard to get out. They both were unbelievable today,” Mongero said.
While Hewett was hitting everything in sight, including leaving a large white mark and dent on the right field fence from a laser beam shot in Game 1, Lewallen was limiting the Knights, who came in with two players hitting over .400 and two others just under that, to practically nothing.
“I feel good right now and I just did what I could. I just tried to throw strikes and keep them off balance. To get two wins as a team was great,” Lewallen said.
It was the second consecutive series sweep for North Hall, which many projected before the season began to be in a rebuilding mode. They forgot to tell that to the Trojans.
“We heard that and I feel we’re proving people wrong,” Lewallen said. “We hear it every year but I think the tradition has been set and we’re just trying to set it up to hand down to the next guys.”
They made a believer out of Upson-Lee coach Wayne Puckett, whose Knights had taken down Region 1-AAAA champ Crisp County in the first round. They won a pair one-run games and held down a solid Crisp County lineup.
“North Hall is a solid team and they showed that,” Puckett said. “People said this team may not be as good as the one from a couple of years ago but they looked pretty good to me. They can hit the ball.”
The Knights (16-11) were coming off their first-ever playoff win and series win in program history. It may not be the last the state sees of them.
“We started three freshmen and two sophomores and our goal was to get to the playoffs and get a taste of what it’s like,” Puckett said. “We did that. It hurts that it’s over for us this year but we’re headed in the right direction.”
Game 1: North Hall 9, Upson-Lee 0
Both pitchers worked out of first inning trouble. Lewallen allowed one hit to go with an error for runners at second and third with one out. But he picked off Kyle Kelly and then struck out Zack Gooden to get out of the jam.
Knights' starter C.J. Allison allowed consecutive one-out singles to Micah Strickland and Hewett but then got Lewallen to hit into a double play to end the inning.
Lewallen settled down on the mound from then on retiring 14 of the next 17 batters into the sixth inning while the North Hall offense went to work against Allison.
Fowler Brooks and Drew Coker opened the second with back-to-back singles and courtesy runner Austin Adams scored from second on a one-out single by Brock Wingo to right. On the play, the Knights’ Tanner Crews overran the ball allowing Coker to score from first for a 2-0 lead. But Upson-Lee turned its second double play in as many innings when Matthew Cox popped up a bunt attempt and Wingo was caught off third to end the inning.
The Trojans loaded the bases in the third on singles by Taber Mongero, Hewett, and Brooks but Allison got Coker to ground into an inning-ending fielder’s choice to strand three runners.
In the fourth North Hall got two runners on after a pair of errors but could not take advantage when Drew Atha was picked off third to end the inning.
North Hall blew it open in the fifth knocking out Allison, who went four-plus innings giving up six runs -- five earned-- on 10 hits and two walks to take the loss. Kelly, who took over for Allison, did not fare much better. Kelly walked the first batter he faced, gave up consecutive RBI singles to Atha and Wingo, Mongero added a sacrifice fly, and Hewett doubled in two more for a 9-0 lead. Kelly went two innings giving up four hits and three runs.
Lewallen earned the win going six innings scattering five hits and one walk to go with four strikeouts. He gave way to Mongero, who pitched around a hit batter and a hit to record a scoreless seventh inning.
Game 2: North Hall 9, Upson-Lee 2
The Trojans wasted little time in jumping on Knights’ ace Kalen Puckett batting around in the first. Mongero walked, Strickland reached on an error, Hewett singled, and Lewallen followed with an RBI single scoring Mongero. Strickland scored on a wild pitch, Brooks knocked in Hewett with a ground out, and Lewallen scored after two passed balls for a 4-0 lead.
Hewett started for the Trojans and was sharp early but the Knights began to chip away and he ran into trouble in the second inning.
In the second, he gave up a single to Crews, who later scored on a North Hall error. In the third, the Knights loaded the bases against Hewett with a walk, another error, and a hit with no one out. Hewett was lifted for Aaron Miles, who got Zack Gooden to ground into a double play, which scored Trace Park, and then Crews popped up to first to end the inning with just one run scored and a 4-2 North Hall lead.
Puckett settled down after the first for the Knights and scattered three hits over the next three innings with only one North Hall runner getting to second base.
The Trojans had a golden opportunity to add to its lead in the top of the fifth loading the bases on hits by Hewett and Brooks sandwiched around a Lewallen walk with no one out. But Puckett got Coker to hit into a fielder’s choice out at the plate and then induced a double play groundball by Miles to get out of the jam.
Upson-Lee looked poised to take advantage loading the bases in the bottom of the inning with one out against Atha, who took over for Miles in the fifth. But a huge baserunning mistake cost the Knights and changed the momentum back to the Trojans. Crews ripped a long a fly ball to right that Matthew Cox made a great over-the-shoulder catch and he fired back to the infield to catch Gooden wandering off first for the double play to end the inning.
North Hall got a huge insurance run in the sixth with some two-out magic. Mongero and Strickland singled with two outs and then Hewett delivered his seventh hit of the series driving in Mongero for a 5-2. That would be the end for Puckett, who was replaced to start the seventh. Puckett went six innings giving up eight hits and five runs -- four earned -- and fanned four.
Atha mowed down the Knights in the bottom of the sixth striking out the side for the first 1-2-3 inning of the game for North Hall pitchers. The Knights brought in sophomore Nash Franklin in the seventh and the Trojans put the game away.
North Hall pounded out three hits to go with three walks, highlighted by a two-run double from Cox and Hewett’s eighth hit of the series, to tack on four runs for a 9-2 lead heading to the bottom of the seventh.
Atha pitched a scoreless seventh to close out the series.
