Baseball roundup: Jefferson knocks off No. 1 Hart Co.; Chestatee wins, Branch, NHall fall

By AccessWDUN Staff

Posted 11:10PM on Thursday 4th March 2021 ( 3 years ago )

JEFFERSON — Class 4A No. 4-ranked Jefferson handed Class 3A No. 1 Hart County its first loss of the season on Thursday with a 4-3 win at home.

The Dragons (5-3) trailed 2-0 early after the Bulldogs (5-1) scored a run in the first inning. It stayed that way until the fifth.

Jefferson scored all of its runs in the fifth on RBI hits from Nick Sellers, Cole Watkins, Rem Maxwell, and Jase Peoples. Hart County pulled back within a run at 4-3 with two runs in the sixth but Jake Walker got the final three outs to record the save for the Dragons.

Maxwell started for the Dragons and went three innings allowing one run on one hit, a walk, and fanned seven. Austin Bell pitched three innings and gave up two runs (none earned) on four hits and struck out four for Jefferson.

Casey Tallent went the distance for Hart County giving up four runs on eight hits while striking out nine.

Sellers had a double and a triple while Watkins had two hits for Jefferson.

Jefferson next will play host to Class 3A fifth-ranked Cherokee Bluff on Friday.

CHESTATEE 11,
UNION COUNTY 5

Chestatee rallied from five runs down to knock off the Panthers on the road Thursday night.

Union County scored a run in the first on a Zeke Swartz RBI double and then plated four in the second on a two-run single from Thomas Dyer and Swartz's second RBI hit in two innings.

But Hunter Bennett, who took over in the second for Bryan Cantrell, settled things down from there. Bennett and Hunter Potzner combined to go 5 2/3 innings in relief, scattering just three hits and yielding no runs the rest of the way.

Meanwhile, the Chestatee offense finally got untracked starting in the third inning. The War Eagles plated two runs each in the third, on a two-run double from Nolan Turner, and fourth innings, on a fielder's choice and a second Turner RBI hit, to get within 5-4.

Chestatee took the lead for good in the fifth on a two-run double from Nathan Bull and a RBI double from Hunter Fouche for a 7-5 lead. The War Eagles blew it open with a four-run sixth, highlighted by a solo homer run from Turner and a two-run single from Bull.

Bennett and Potzner stranded four Union County base runners over the final two innings to seal the win.

MILL CREEK 4,
FLOWERY BRANCH 1

The Falcons (6-2) had their two-game win streak snapped on the road against the Class 7A Hawks.

Mason Compton pitched five innings and Connor Larson pitched one inning for Flowery Branch in the loss.

Compton also had two hits to lead the offense.

Jake Beaver, Kaleb Freeman, and JB Bell all had one hit each for the Falcons.

NORTH OCONEE 9,
NORTH HALL 2

The Class 3A No. 2 Trojans wrapped up one of the toughest non-region schedules in the area with a loss on the road to the Class 4A No. 1-ranked Titans.

The loss was the second straight for North Hall (5-2-1) and the second straight in as many days to a No. 1-ranked team.

The Titans led 4-0 after the first inning and increased their lead to 8-0 by the end of the fourth inning battering North Hall pitchers Landon Lee
and Baker Dyer. But only two of the nine runs were earned as the Trojans committed three bog errors.

North Hall's only runs came in the fifth on a bases loaded walk to Brad Puryear and a RBI when Jaret Bales was hit by a pitch on the next batter. But the Trojans could not keep the potentially big inning going.

Jace Bowen and Luke Erickson had the only two North Hall hits on the day.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2021/3/984854/baseball-roundup-jefferson-knocks-off-no-1-hart-co