Bulldogs Make The Playoffs
The Toombs County High School Bulldogs Baseball team are heading to the State Playoffs. They had to win two of three games from the Tigers of Swainsboro last week to secure the #4 seed coming out of Region 2AA, and they swept the Tigers to finish the regular season.
Game 1
On Tuesday in Swainsboro, in the top of the first inning the Bulldogs took the lead on a two RBI double by Gray Stephens. Then on an error on a ball hit by Tray Harris, Stephens scored for a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the second inning Toombs had already added one run before Stephens sent a solo home run over the fence for a 5-0 lead.
Swainsboro closed the lead to 5-4 in the bottom of the second inning to make it a game, but the Bulldogs added a run on a hit by Justin Dukes in the top of the fourth inning to extend the lead to 6-4.
The Bulldogs pulled away in the sixth inning with a base clearing double by Chase Musselman, and they picked up one more run for a 10-4 lead.
Toombs held on to win by that score, and were just one win away from the playoffs. Musselman led the way with 4 RBI's, with Stephens following with 3. Musselmand got the win on the mound as well.
Game 2
On Thursday in Lyons the Bulldogs rolled to a win to secure their playoff bid. In the bottom of the first inning the Bulldogs several walks with the bases loaded brought in runs for the Bulldogs as they built up a 3-0 lead.
In the second inning Toombs added three more runs as Logan Knight got a hit, and then his pinch runner scored on a hit by Chandler Lynn. Musselman picked up a continued from page
hit, and Tray Harris then drove in Lynn for a 5-0 lead. Dukes was up next and got an RBI single for a 6-0, TCHS lead.
The Bulldogs kept up their pace as they plated three more runs in the third inning to push their lead to 9-0. Wil Watts came up with a double and Lynn drove him in with a single. Musselman followed with another RBI and then Stephens drove in Musselman to put the Bulldogs up 9-0.
Swainsboro scored three runs in the top of the fourth inning. Toombs added three more in the fifth inning when Foster Jones drove in two runs with an RBI double, and Jones scored on an error on a ball hit by Watts. That put TCHS up 12-3.
Swainsboro got a run in the top of the sixth, but the Bulldogs closed out the win in the bottom of the frame with two more runs, and won the game by the run rule 14-4. Harris drove in three runs in the game and Knight got the win on the mound.
Game 3
Toombs was back in Swainsboro on Friday and closed out the series with another big win. Toombs jumped out to an early lead with four runs in the top of the first inning with Stephens, Harris, Brantley Upshaw, and Jones all driving in runs for a 4-0 lead. Toombs added two in the second inning. They loaded the bases and a walk by Harris brought in a run, and a walk by Upshaw scored another to put Toombs up 6-0. TCHS plated one in the top of the third inning, but the Tigers finally got on the board in the bottom half to make the score 7-1. Toombs added four runs in the fourth with Swainsboro scoring one in the inning. That gave Toombs a 11-2 lead. Swainsboro scored two more times with the Bulldogs getting one more as they took the win, 12-4 in the final game of the regular season. Harris led the team in RBI's with 3. The pitching duties were split between Upshaw and Caden Ver- Sluis. This week Toombs will be on the road for the first round of the State Playoffs as they travel to Bleckley County for a best-of-three series. They will play a double header on Thursday with the first pitch scheduled for 4:00 p.m. The 'If' game would be on Friday at 6:00 p.m.
