Baseball: North Hall roars into the Class 4A playoffs; Jackson Co. knocks off NoFo; Gainesville beats Apalachee

GAINESVILLE, Ga. — On a rare occasion, North Hall found itself on the outside looking in ... for a moment. 

After falling in the first game, 13-7, to Seckinger on Tuesday and holding on to take the second game of the best-of-three series, 5-2, North Hall opened Wednesday's must-win Game 3 like the finale of a 4th of July fireworks show. 

The Trojans scored seven runs in the first inning to shell-shock the Jaguars en route to a 14-1 five-inning win on Wednesday at Cottrell Field. The win catapulted the Trojans into the playoffs for the 15th consecutive season. They'll represent Region 8-4A as a No. 4 seed in next week's playoffs. 

Not only did they open the first inning hot, hammering out seven hits and taking advantage of the Jaguars' shaky pitching and defense, but the Trojans also continued to pile it on for three straight innings, scoring one run in the second and six in the third inning to take a 14-1 lead. 

Kenny Foudy belted a three-run homer over the left field wall in the third inning to highlight North Hall's offensive onslaught and give his team a 13-0 lead. Foudy finished the day 2-for-2 with five RBIs.  Jon Jon Read was 3-for-4 with two RBIs, and Nathan Vermeer was 3-for-4 with one RBI. Micah Jimerson and Luke Sanders had two hits each. 

The defense and pitching were just as good as the hitting, as Sanders pitched four innings of one-hit baseball and allowed no earned runs. Seckinger scored its lone run in the third inning on an error. 

The Trojans now await their first-round opponent. They'll cross over with Region 7-4A. 

JACKSON COUNTY 9, 
NORTH FORSYTH 2

The Panthers knocked off Region 8-6A champion North Forsyth to finish the regular season on a high note at home on Wednesday. 

The win didn't move them up in the standings but did seal up a No. 4 seed in the Class 6A playoffs, set to begin on Saturday. Apalachee, who won the last 8-of-9 games takes the No. 3 seed, while Lanier will be the No. 2 seed. 

After North Forsyth took a 1-0 lead in the third, Jackson County scored eight over the next two innings and held on to beat North Forsyth. 

GAINESVILLE 12, 
APALACHEE 4

The Red Elephants jumped on Apalachee early to roll to the win at home on Tuesday. 

Gainesville scattered 11 runs over the first four innings, including a six-run fourth inning to take an 11-0 lead. Apalachee added two runs in the fifth and two in the sixth inning. Gainesville tacked on one more run in the sixth inning. 

Anthony Lugo was 3-for-3 with two RBIs, while Branson Crawford was 3-for-5 with four RBIs to lead Gainesville at the plate. Smith McGarvey was 2-for-2 on the day.