ROME Ga. — Five batters in, Cherokee Bluff had a 3-0 lead and Troup starter Davis Moncus on the ropes, loading up for the knockout blow.
It never landed.
The sophomore southpaw regrouped to hold the Bears offense to just five more hits the rest of the way, delivering a stunning complete-game performance to rally Troup to a 6-3 win in Game 3 of the two teams’ Class 3A state championship series.
The victory at AdventHeath Stadium on Wednesday gave the Tigers a 2-1 series win and their first-ever state title.
“We did a great job of getting the inning going and getting the first three runs,” Bluff coach Jeremy Kemp said. “Then, you know, I think we made a couple mistakes and let him off the hook.”
The Bears, much like in a frustrating 5-1 Game 1 loss on Tuesday, left at least one runner on base in all but one inning, and were just 1-for-6 with RISP for the game.
Troup coach Thomas Glisson said it was tempting to make a change, but rolled the dice. Moncus had not pitched more than three innings in any playoff game this season.
“He's out there running down balls in center field. He's very, very active on the bases. I think he just lost his legs a little bit here in the playoffs,” Glisson said. “If I was going to go get him, I was going to bring him back later anyway. So I said, ‘hey, you're either going to go here or I’m going get you out for a minute, put you in center field and bring you back to close.
“But this is my guy right here. I decided to ride with him.”
“I've had some shaky innings, but I just knew this might is the last chance I have so I just got to do it,” Moncus said. “I had no strikeouts this game. I was just throwing it in there, letting my defense play. I knew they had my back.”
It’s the second consecutive season the Bears have seen their season end in the finals after losing to Starr’s Mill in the 2024 Class 4A title series. They dropped that series in a rough sweep scoring just two total runs.
On Tuesday, after losing the opener, they responded with a 15-0 demolition of the Tigers in Game 2 to send it to Wednesday’s deciding third game.
Senior KT Thompson, who will be playing next season at Georgia Southern, showed his disappointment as well but said they had nothing to regret.
“We lost the first game and we put up a fight in Game 2 and we gave ourselves a shot,” Thompson said. “We just weren’t able to pull it off there at the end.”
But it was the perfect way you would want to start a winner-take-all showdown for the Bears in Game 3.
Bubba Coleman and Landon Kemp walked to start the game and then moved to second and third with no outs on a double-steal. Ethan England followed with a RBI single to center and he and Kemp advanced to second and third on another double-steal. Bryce Fontenot then walked to load the bases with no outs.
Kemp scored on a wild pitch and England came home on a RBI groundout from Thompson for a quick 3-0 lead. And it looked like they were ready to continue the barrage from Game 2, getting two more runners on base with two outs.
But they could not add on. That would loom large later and set another frustrating tone at the plate the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, the Tigers responded in the bottom of the first as Garrison Edwards singled and Kemp, who started on the mound for Bluff, walked Moncus and both advanced one pitch later on a wild pitch. Carson Walker knocked in a run with a RBI groundout and Fisher Baltzell tripled in Moncus to cut the lead to 3-2.
Kemp was replaced by Logan Robinson, who walked his first batter. But he got Chase Mosley to hit into an inning-ending double play to get out of the jam.
Both pitchers cruised through the second, with Robinson striking out the side. However, Thompson was left stranded in the third and the Tigers were able to tie the game at 3-3 on a one-out single from Walker, his second RBI of the game.
Robinson continued to run into trouble in the third when Baltzell singled and Brady Willis walked to load the bases with one out. Mosley smoked a two-run triple down the right field line to give the Tigers a 5-3 lead, but Willis was gunned down at the plate as Robinson eventually got out of the inning with no further damage.
But he could not get out of the fourth, as Coleman took over with two on and two out trying to keep the Bears within striking distance. But Walker lofted an RBI single to left, scoring Delaney for a 6-3 lead.
Coleman retired seven of the eight batters he faced but Moncus answered, retiring 14 of the final 17 batters he faced after the third inning.
Despite the series loss, Kemp said they have nothing to hang their heads about.
“This was the fourth week in a row we went into a series where we've been the underdog,” Kemp said. “We faced four region champs throughout the playoffs. If you would have told me we were going to be right here in this spot six weeks ago, two months ago, not hardly.
“We didn't get it done today. Things just did not fall for us. And sometimes baseball is like that. And sometimes it feels like baseball is not fair. But these guys came to work every day to get better. Couldn’t have asked more from a group.”
http://accesswdun.com/article/2025/5/1291347/state-finals-bluff-game-3-5-21-25