State semifinal Game 3 recaps for Classes 6A-2A

Posted 5/17/16

 

The state finals are set in all classifications except for Class AAAAA. Heavy rain in Southeast Georgia postponed Game 3 between Loganville and South Effingham. The game has been scheduled for 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

The winner will travel to Houston County to face the Bears in the state championship series that begins on Saturday. Houston, in the finals for the second time in three years, eliminated Gainesville Tuesday in Game 3 of its best-of-three series with a 2-0 victory.

Tanner Hall earned a complete-game, one-hit victory after pitching himself out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh inning to preserve the victory.

DL Hall broke a scoreless tie with an RBI double in the third, then Dillon Strickland's solo homer in the fourth gave the Bears (28-9) a 2-0 lead.

Gainesville's season ends at 28-9.

Class AAA: Blessed Trinity 9, Jackson County 1
After Blessed Trinity (33-2) had its 24-game postseason winning streak broken in a 2-1 loss to Jackson County in Game 2 on Monday, the Titans won their 14th straight postseason series Tuesday when they scored a run each in the first three innings and never looked back.

Blessed Trinity will play host to Region 4-AAA rival Westminster, who swept Cedartown in its semifinal series on Monday, for the Class AAA state championship in a best-of-three series that  begins on Saturday. Blessed Trinity beat Westminster twice in region play during the regular season.

Peyton Glavine earned the victory on the mound, allowing a run on three hits in six innings. Connor Durham pitched a scoreless seventh inning.

David Dunn led the Blessed Trinity offense going 3 for 3 with an RBI. Colin Dore went 2 for 3 with a solo homer and a double. Colin Davis finished 2 for 4 with a triple, while CJ Abrams went 2 for 4 with a triple and three RBIs.

The Panthers' season ends at 20-17-1.

Class AA: Wesleyan 4, Holy Innocents 0
Defending state champion Wesleyan is back in the Class AA state championship series after ousting Holy Innocents behind Alex Thompson's five-hit shutout on Tuesday.

The Wolves (28-9) will play host to Lovett in the best-of-three state championship series that begins with one game on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Wesleyan has graduation on Saturday and will play Game 2 on Monday at 4:30 p.m. with Game 3 to follow at a time to be determined.

Michael Payne's RBI single scored a pair of runs in the second inning, then Cole Mannion provided Thompson some cushion in the sixth inning with a two-run homer. Mannion finished 3 for 3 to lead Wesleyan's five-hit attack.

Holy Innocents season ends at 25-11.

Class AA: Lovett 4, Greater Atlanta Christian 0
After dropping the first game of the best-of-three semifinal series, Lovett rallied back to win the final two games, including Tuesday's 4-0 Game 3 victory, to advance to the Class AA state championship series.

It will be Lovett's first trip back to the finals since they won the Class AA title in 2013.

Pitchers Ben O'Meara and Freddy Achecar teamed up to hurl a one-hit shutout.

The Lions (23-11-1) scored a pair of runs in the first inning, then Aaron Schunk ripped a two-run homer to make it 4-0 in the fifth inning. It was Schunk's second homer in as many days.

Greater Atlanta Christian's season ends at 26-10.