BUFORD, Ga. — Buford’s Stuart Chester said you need three things to have ultimate success in the playoffs.
“You obviously need some talent, you need to be healthy, and you have to get some breaks. We really didn’t get much of the latter two in this series,” he said after Brookwood knocked the Wolves out of the Class 7A playoffs on Tuesday with a 5-4, Game 3 win in the quarterfinals at Gerald McQuaig Field.
The victory gave the Broncos (30-11) a 2-1 series win and they will move on to play rival Grayson in the semifinals beginning on Saturday.
It was a frustrating deciding game for Buford (25-10), who stranded eight runners, five in scoring position, and went just 2-for-8 with RISP for the game. The Wolves also gave up a key unearned run and allowed another run to score on a wild pitch.
They had their chance at the end. After Ayden Lockett drove in Madden Young with an RBI single to cut the lead to 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh, Cannon Goldin came off the bench with a chance to tie the game or win it. But his hot smash to short was knocked down and a flip to second just beat Ethan Murray to the bag to end it.
“I hate that it ended the way it did,” Chester said.”There isn’t a better group of kids. It was just a game of opportunity, today and yesterday, and there at the end we had Cannon (Goldin) but he basically missed the entire playoffs. The kids fought the whole way.”
It was the second game of the series where the Wolves could have, or maybe even should have won, and captured the series. They dropped a 4-3 decision in Game 2 in 12 innings, stranding 15 runners, seven in scoring position.
In Game 3, both teams had some early chances. The Broncos got a pair of first inning singles, but John Beverley was gunned down trying to steal second to kill a rally. The Wolves loaded the bases with two out in the bottom of the first but Caleb Griffin struck out to end the inning.
In the second, Brookwood got a two-out single but could not add on. In the third, the Wolves got a walk to Madden Young and a hit by Nate Taylor with one out. But Ayden Lockett struck out and Ethan Murray grounded out to end the threat.
The Broncos finally broke through in the fourth. Max Rogozinski singled to lead off and moved to third on Boomer Rogozinski’s single to right with one out. Krause struck out Jay Bueno but Alex Reyes followed with a two-out single to center driving both Rogozinski’s for a 2-0 lead. After Alex Wright singled, Ryan Morris had the fifth hit of the inning knocking in Reyes for a 3-0 lead.
After Brookwood added a run in the fifth for a 4-0 lead, the Buford offense finally got going. Sam Humphrey singled, Cam Wood reached on an error, and Madden Young ripped a two-run single to center to highlight a three-run inning to cut the lead to one.
But Krause (5.1IP, 11H, 2 BB, 4K, 4R, 2ER) ran into trouble again in the sixth. He allowed a single and a walk with one out and gave way to Luke Hopper. Hopper walked Beverley to load the bases and the Broncos got a run on a wild pitch to make it 5-3 but Hopper got out of the inning with no further damage.
Joe Soto started and went six innings, allowing just four hits and three walks and fanned seven to get the win for Brookwood.
