Thursday March 28th, 2024 11:32AM

Baseball playoffs: North Hall rallies for thrilling Game 3 win over Bulldogs

By Jeff Hart Sports Reporter

GAINESVILLE — If it could go wrong, did it ever for five innings for North Hall in its Class 3A second-round deciding Game 3 against Hart County on Thursday.

Trojans starter Hunter Brooks came in with a 1.24 ERA but couldn’t get out of the third. Four errors, mental mistakes, and missed opportunities at the plate fueled the Bulldogs to early 4-0 and 7-3 leads.

But North Hall coach Trevor Flow said he never wavered from thinking that despite a stack of adversity the size of Yonah Mountain, his group would find a way.

Did they ever, in the form of a wild seven-run fifth inning that helped the Trojans erase all traces of the first four innings and pull off a thrilling 12-8 win at Cottrell Field to win the series 2-1 and advance to next week’s quarterfinals. Hart County won Game 1, 2-0, and the Trojans stayed alive with an 8-5 win in Game 2 on Wednesday.

“Nothing went right for us early,” Flow said. “Everything was going wrong. But these guys just refused to lose. I can’t say enough about how proud we are in how they handled the adversity of this series. They never quit.”

It was a series that really should have happened in the semifinals, if not later. The Trojans (27-6) finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in Class 3A while the Bulldogs (23-10) spent much of the season atop Class 3A before a late-season slump.

The two teams played the entire series as if the state title was on the line. Game 3 resembled the Gunfight at the OK Corral.

The Bulldogs struck first as Malachi Thomas reached on an error and was bunted to second. Brooks looked like he was going to get out of the inning after Will Dean popped up and then catching Thomas in a run down. But a throw got away from the defense allowing Thomas to eventually score from second for a 1-0 lead.

Hart County made it 4-0 in the second when Trey Horton singled and scored on a Peyton Powell double to left. Powell scored on a double by No. 9 hitter Rafe Maxwell, who then scored on an RBI single by Thomas.

After the Bulldogs opening blitz in the first three innings, the Trojans fired back with a pair of runs in the second. Bradford Puryear walked and later scored on a bases-loaded walk to Luke Erickson. Cooper Helton reached on an error and then scored on a sacrifice fly from Tate Brooks to trim the lead to 4-2.

But Hart County got them right back plating a pair of unearned runs in the third, with the big blow a two-out, two-run single from No. 8 hitter Tanner Ayers.

The Bulldogs plated a run in the fourth and the Trojans got a two-run single from Jaret Bales in the bottom of the inning to pull within 7-5. In the fifth, Hart County got its fourth unearned run of the game to that point on another RBI hit from Maxwell.

But the huge fifth inning for North Hall would be the difference. The Trojans battered four Hart County pitchers in the frame getting four hits, four walks, a hit batter, and two costly errors to take a 12-8 lead. Jace Bowen’s two-run double to center gave them their first lead at 10-8 and Eli Reece followed with a run-scoring single.

“It’s all about the adversity. We’d fought it before. It’s what we live for,” Bowen said. “We knew the big inning was coming. We used the adversity as fuel and we were ready.”

Meanwhile, Baker Dyer settled things down on the mound for North Hall tossing three innings, allowing just one earned run on four hits to give the offense a chance.

Landon Davis came on in the sixth and retired the first five batters before surrendering two hits and a walk to bring the tying run to the plate in the seventh. Bales, who started Game 1, ended the game, and the series, by striking out Thomas on four pitches to get the save.

“Landon is a dog. He shook off the struggles from (Wednesday) and then we went to our ace, Jaret. He’s been there all year and he came in ready to go,” Bowen said.

It doesn’t get any easier for North Hall. The Trojans will play host to old nemesis Pierce County in the quarterfinal round. The two teams last played in 2017 with the Trojans sweeping the Bears in the Class 3A championship series.

But this is a group still acclimating itself to the playoffs. Flow said a series like the one they just finished could pay huge dividends moving forward.

“Class 3A baseball is good, man,” he said. “To win the state title in 3A you will have to beat great teams. Hart County is a great team. Our guys are still gaining experience. Pierce is going to be legit and ready to play.”

NOTES: North Hall has been tough at home in the playoffs. They have won five of their last six playoff series at Cottrell Field going back to 2016. Their only series loss in that span was to Lovett in 2018 in three games. ... The bottom of the Hart County lineup kept them in Game 3. They were 6-for-11 with four RBI and a run scored. In the first two games, the bottom of the Bulldogs order was just 2-for-17 with two RBI. ... The seven-run fifth inning was the Trojans biggest of the 2021 playoffs. They had scored just 20 total runs in four playoff games until Thursday’s 12-run explosion. ... North Hall battered the Bulldogs bullpen for 10 runs in the series. The Trojans bullpen, meanwhile, allowed five runs, just two earned, in the series.


AREA SCOREBOARD, Thursday, May 6
CLASS 6A
Pope 5, Buford 3 (Pope advances)

CLASS 4A
Cedartown 4-4, Flowery Branch 0-3 (Cedartown advances)

CLASS 3A
Cherokee Bluff 4, Greater Atlanta Christian 1 (Cherokee Bluff advances)
North Hall 12, Hart County 8 (North Hall advances)

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