Indians Into 2nd Round

The #1 Vidalia High School Indians baseball team is through to the second round of the GHSA State AA Playoffs with a sweep of Washington County's Golden Hawks. The Indians rolled in the first game of the best-ofthree series, but had to overcome some late inning heroics by Washington to come away with the win in Game 2.

Game 1

Neither team scored in the first inning, but in the top of the second the Hawks threatened as they loaded the bases. Landry Mead, who was on the mound for VHS, got out of the jam with a strikeout and a ground out to keep them off the scoreboard. In the bottom of second inning Hughes Graham picked up a double, Jordan Walden was hit by a pitch, and then an error on a ball hit by Caden Spivey brought in two runs to put the Indians on top, 2-0.

VHS held again in the top of the third inning, and got back to work in the bottom of the frame. Bryson Whited reached base on an error, stole second and took third on a wild pitch. Graham hit in Whited for a 3-0 lead. He took second on an error, and Kaleb Bennett came in to run for the VHS catcher. Walker Moncus hit a sac fly to left that moved Bennett to third, and Michael Blount walked to put runners at the corners. VHS drove in one more run to put them on top 4-0 heading to the fourth inning.

In the bottom of the fourth the Indians blew the game open. With Cason Banks on base, a hit by Mead put two runners on. Whited then hit a shot to the fence that scored a run, and then Ty Dalley hit a double for a 7-0 lead. Graham walked and Moncus bunted to put runners on second and third. Walden came through with a 2 RBI single for a 9-0, VHS lead.

The Indians picked up one more run in the sixth inning as they loaded the bases and then scored on an error on a ball hit by Walden. That gave VHS the run rule win, 10-0. Graham led VHS with 3 hits, and Walden had 3 RBI's.

Game 2

The second game looked as though the Indians were again going to run away with it, but the Hawks came storming back forcing VHS to come up big in the final inning to get the win.

VHS were the visitors in the second game and in the top of the first inning Mead led off with a single, and Whited followed with a single to put two runners on base. Dalley came through with an RBI for a 1-0 lead, and Whited scored on a hit by Graham for a 2-0 lead. In the top of the second VHS added to their lead. Cason Banks had a hit, and a sacrifice fly by Mead put VHS up 3-0. In the top of the fourth inning the Indians looked as if they were going to pull away as they plated six more runs. Back to back singles by Blount and Walden put two runners on base, and Spivey walked to load the bases. Banks picked up an RBI, and then Dalley followed that with a sacrifice for a 6-0 lead. Graham was up next and hit a three-run home run as the Indians pushed their lead to 9-0.

But in the bottom of the fourth inning the Indians committed a couple of errors and that led to four runs by the Hawks as they closed the lead to 9-4. VHS got a run in the top of the fifth inning as Mead drove in Banks to put VHS up 10-4. Then in the bottom of the sixth inning, the wheels fell off for the Indians. More errors brought in two runs to close the lead to 10-6, and then a string of hits and another error tied the game at 1010. VHS finally got the third out and sent the game to the final inning tied at 10-10.

In the top of the seventh inning VHS came out and showed that dominance as they quickly pulled back away from the Hawks. With Bennett on base, Mead doubled to put VHS back on top, 11-10. Whited and Dalley came through with hits, before Graham drove in two more runs for a 13-10 lead. Moncus walked, and on a wild pitch Graham came in to score. Walden then hit a two-run double for a 16-10 VHS lead.

Whited, who had come in in the sixth to try to close out the game, did just that in the seventh as the Indians won the game 16-10. Graham led the way with 5 RBI's, with Mead adding 4 RBI's. Bennett had four hits in the game to lead VHS.

This week VHS was back in action on Tuesday in the second round of the playoffs after presstime. VHS took on Berrien County in a double header on Tuesday, and if they need a Game 3 that will be played on Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. at Greg James Field at VHS.