Indians Fall In Elite 8

The Indians baseball team of Vidalia High School had their playoff run came to an end last Tuesday in Game 3 of the bestof- three series against the Lions of The Lovett School in the Elite 8. The two teams were evenly matched, but 10 walks and 4 errors cost the Indians in their final game.

VHS and Lovett had split the first two games of the series on Monday of last week, with Vidalia winning the first game 4-2, and Lovett taking the second 1-0.

Game 3

In the top of the first inning, the Lions jumped out to an early lead. Bryson Whited was on the mound for VHS and had gotten the first two outs, but then he walked the next three batters to load the bases. Two hits by the Lions followed to give them a 3-0 lead.

In the bottom of the first, the Indians couldn't get anything going to answer, and the game went to the second inning with VHS down 3-0. VHS did manage a run in the bottom of the second inning, though, as Hughes Graham walked and then took second on a balk by the Lovett pitcher. He was moved over to third on a sacrifice by Walker Moncus, and came in to score on a ground out by Michael Blount. That made the score 3-1.

Whited again held in the top of the third inning, and in the bottom of the frame the Indians got the offense going. continued from page

Caden Spivey led off and reached on an error, but was thrown out trying to steal second. Cason Banks walked, Landry Mead picked up a hit, and Whited also singled to load the bases for the Indians. Another balk brought in a run for VHS to close it to 3-2. Ty Dalley walked to load the bases back up, and then Graham was hit by a pitch to bring in a run and tie the game at 3-3. Moncus then drove in Whited as the Indians took a 4-3 lead over the Lions.

But the Lions answered in the top of the fourth inning with two more runs as they jumped back out in front, 5-4 on the Indians. VHS didn't get anything going in the bottom of the inning, but in the top of the fifth Lovett added to their lead. They plated three more runs to push their lead to 8-4. With two out and the bases loaded Bryce Morley came in to pitch and got the third out.

In the bottom of the fifth, VHS stormed back. Whited led off with a rip up the middle, and then Dalley hit a shot into right field to put two runners on base. Graham followed with an RBI hit in to right-center to make the score 8-5 with no outs. Two infield popouts came next for the Indians, but then a rip through the right side by Jordan Walden closed the lead to 8-6. Morley followed that with a hit into right field that brought in Chandler Corbett, who was running for Graham. That closed the lead to 8-7. But a fly out to left sent the game to the sixth inning with VHS now down by just one, 8-7.

Morley held off the Lions in the top of the sixth, and in the bottom of the inning with the top of the Indians order coming to the plate, the Lions brought in their ace, Will Prigge, who had held the Indians scoreless in Game 2. He had just 24 pitches that he could throw, and used all of them, but did his job and kept the Indians off the scoreboard.

Morley again held in the top of the seventh to give VHS a chance for the win in the bottom of that final inning.

In the bottom half of the seventh, Moncus led the inning off with double to right center, putting the tying run on second with no outs. Blount bunted and the catcher fielded the ball throwing to third in an effort to cut down the lead runner. Moncus beat the throw and that put runners on the corners. Walden then bunted Blount over to second with a sacrifice for the first out of the inning. Next, a pop out gave the Indians two outs. Banks walked to load the bases with Mead coming to the plate. Mead hit the ball hard, but it was caught by the right fielder for the final out of the game, ending the Indians' season with an 8-7 loss.

VHS finished the year in the Elite 8 with a record of 29-6 and were the #1 team in the state for much of the season. The Indians will be losing four seniors off of this year's great team, Landry Mead, Micheal Blount, Ben Beverly, and Jordan Stephens.

VHS Head Coach Brent Korn said, “We did a great job battling back all night, just had too many mistakes tonight to beat a good team like Lovett. Our guys never gave up though, and we had a real chance there at the end. It was a big series, but just have to tip your hat to them, they got the job done today. We will have to learn from this, get better, and keep grinding.

“We are going to miss these seniors, they all have given us great leadership, and done everything that they have been asked to do for us. They are leaving the program in great shape though.”