FORT VALLEY, Ga. — Tucker Holton is back, and so is Cherokee Bluff into the state baseball finals.
The Bears advanced to the Class 3A finals after a stunning 15-2, six-inning rout of No. 2 Peach County on Wednesday in the two teams’ deciding Game 3.
The series win moves Cherokee Bluff (27-12) into the 3A championship series against the winner of the Troup-Pickens semifinals. That series also went to three games with Game 3 in LaGrange Wednesday afternoon.
The championship series will be held at Rome Stadium starting on Tuesday with a doubleheader at 5 p.m. Game 3, if necessary, will be at noon on Wednesday.
Holton, who has been slowly returning from an early-season injury, put in his longest outing of the season. The senior right-hander tossed six innings and scattered four hits and three walks while holding the Trojans (36-4) to their second-lowest run total of the season.
While Holton was stymying the Peach County bats, the Bears offense got rolling quickly. They scored two in the first and began to pull away with five runs in the third, all with two out. Ethan England belted a solo home run to start a parade of six straight batters reaching, culminating with a two-run double by Cody Bridger for a 7-1 lead.
Bluff extended its lead to 9-1 in the fourth and then put it out of reach with six in the sixth. England and Fontenot had RBI singles, they scored two on a huge Peach County error, and Jordan Wilkerson capped the big inning with a two-run home run.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2025/5/1291166/baseball-playoffs-bluff-routs-peach-co-to-advance-to-3a-championship-series