OAKWOOD — Coming into last week, the West Hall baseball team knew the next six games would make or break their playoff chances.
Sitting in fifth place in Region 7-AAA, the Spartans felt they needed to win both of their three-game series’ with Dawson County and Lumpkin County, who were ahead of them in the standings in a fight for second place.
After Tuesday, the Spartans find themselves right where they were hoping to be after taking 2-of-3 from Tigers and now the opening game, 8-5, over the Indians at Spartans Field.
The series will move to Dahlonega on Friday for a crucial doubleheader for both teams.
“It was a very ugly win but we’ll definitely take it,” West Hall coach Chad Sage. “If we want to finish second, we need a sweep. We’re going to go (to Dahlonega) trying to get both games.”
The win pushed West Hall (13-8, 7-6 Region 7-AAA) a game ahead of Lumpkin County (11-9, 6-7) for third place. Dawson County (14-7, 8-5) remained a game ahead of the Spartans after routing Fannin County 15-3 on Tuesday.
Charlie Cochran has been instrumental in getting the Spartans to this point. The junior southpaw got a complete-game, 5-2 win over Dawson County on Friday and then came on in the seventh inning Tuesday to nail down the win with his second save of the season.
“I like pitching under stress. It’s fun,” Cochran said. “It was great to be able to come in and hold them and get the save. But I love being able to get a complete-game win also. I’m just doing whatever is needed.”
Despite the eight-run outburst, the Spartans, who came in averaging just under six runs a game in 7-AAA play, had plenty of chances to blow the game open. They led 7-1 after the third inning with the help of two Lumpkin County errors but eventually left the bases loaded twice and stranded six runners in scoring position. They managed just seven hits and had five of those in a four-run second inning.
They also committed four errors that helped the Indians cut the lead to 7-5 in the sixth inning.
“We felt like we really should have opened it up on offense but couldn’t get that one big hit,” Sage said. “We also were sloppy on defense, which we have got to clean up the rest of the way.”
But, Sage also found some silver linings in the fact that the Spartans have won three of the first four games during this critical six-game stretch.
“We’ve had some guys step up here at the end of the season and that’s good to see,” he said. “But to have a real chance in the playoffs you need to finish in the top two to get the home playoff series. We feel like we really need to win out to have a chance at second place.”
After Friday’s doubleheader West Hall will close out the season against last-place Banks County while Lumpkin County and Dawson County will close out the regular season with a three-game series against each other.
Tuesday night, Lumpkin County struck first in the first taking advantage of several West Hall miscues. West Hall starter Kyle Reynolds plunked Sebastian Dunn to lead off then Dunn moved to third on an errant pickoff attempt. T.J. Rider knocked in Dunn with a single to right for a 1-0 lead.
The Spartans came right back in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 1 on a RBI groundout by Jeffrey Jenkins following a key error by the Indians.
After Reynolds got the Indians in order in quick fashion in the top of the second, Merritt Gazaway laid down a perfect bunt single to open the bottom of the inning and then moved to second on Cole Wilson’s single to center with no one out. Tanner Ahmad followed with a single to right driving in both Gazaway and Wilson for a 3-1 lead. Another Lumpkin County error allowed Erik Ayala, who had singled, to score to push it to a 4-1 lead. Jenkins knocked in his second run of the game on a single to right scoring Ahmad.
West Hall added two more in the third on one hit, two walks, and two hit batters by Romero, who was replaced by Matthew Grizzle. Romero lasted just 2 2/3 innings surrendering seven runs -- five earned -- on six hits and two walks.
Grizzle settled things down Lumpkin County retiring the first seven batters he faced into the sixth inning giving his offense a chance to rally.
And Lumpkin County began to chip away in the fourth. The Indians scored one run on a West Hall error in the fourth and then loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the fifth with three straight hits. The Indians trimmed the lead to 7-4 on a fielder’s choice RBI by Wil Pence and a RBI single by Romero. But Reynolds got Braylen Chastain to ground into a double play back to the pitcher to end the inning.
The Indians pulled within 7-5 in the sixth on a sacrifice RBI by Geo Araiza scoring Dalton Stephens, who doubled to lead off the inning.
Grizzle was solid in relief going 2 1/2 innings yielding no hits or walks while fanning two. He was replaced by Dunn in sixth after Anderson reached on an error. Anderson later moved to third on a wild pitch and fly out. After Jenkins reached on an error and Carter Lott walked, Gazaway singled in Anderson for an 8-5 lead.
Reynolds (6-3) went six innings allowing five runs on nine hits and struck out three to get the win for West Hall.
