VHS Indians Knock Off Tigers

The Vidalia High School Indians baseball team bounced back after losing the first game of a three-game series against the Tigers of Swainsboro last week, to win the last two games, and earn a trip to the second round of the GHSA State Playoffs.

Game 1 The Indians held a lead late in the first game of the double header on Friday, but the Tigers sent the game to extra innings, where Swainsboro came away with the win.

VHS took the lead in the top of the third inning off a 2-RBI single from Veer Patel. Swainsboro picked up a run in the bottom of the fourth inning, but VHS answered with four runs in the top of the fifth to push their lead to 6-1.

The Tigers plated three runs in the bottom of the fifth to close the lead to 6-4. The Indians added a run in the top of the sixth, but two more from Swainsboro in the bottom of the frame made the score 7-6. One more from the Indians in the top of the seventh pushed the lead to 8-6, but Swainsboro tied the game at 8-8 to send it to extra innings.

In the top of the eighth, Cayden Nance scored on a sacrifice fly as the Indians took a 9-8 lead, but the Tigers answered in the bottom half to keep the game alive.

Neither team scored in the tenth or eleventh innings, but in the top of the twelfth, the Indians appeared to take control. VHS loaded up the bases and walks to Jackson Berry and Ryan Brantley brought in two runs. VHS added one more on a sacrifice fly by Jake Mc-Caw as VHS now led, 129.

But in the bottom of the inning, the Tigers closed the lead to 12-11, and then came through with a walk-off, two-run double to win the game over VHS, 13-12.

Game 2

In the second game of the double header on Friday, the score was close until the Indians exploded in the fifth inning to take the game by the run rule.

VHS took the early lead with Gabe Cleghorn scoring on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third inning. Swainsboro tied the game in the top of the fourth inning at 1-1.

But things took a big turn in the bottom of the fifth inning as VHS plated 10 runs on the way to the win. Patel came through with an RBI single, and then Berry drove in a run to take a 3-1 lead. Brantley followed with an RBI and then Henry Adams drove in a run to push the lead to 5-1. Mc-Caw added an RBI double and then Nance singled in two to make the score 8-1.

VHS went on to load up the bases, and a walk to Patel extended the lead to 9-1. Clay Mimbs added an RBI double and Brantley drove in the final run of the game for the 11-1 win.

Game 3

The final game of the series was played on Saturday afternoon, and VHS jumped on the Tigers early on the way to another run rule win. VHS jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Mimbs drove in the first run with a single, and then a sacrifice fly by Brantley made it 2-0. A Swainsboro error gave the Indians another run, and Ian Moye singled in two more runs as VHS led 5-0. One more run scored on a wild pitch as VHS took a 6-0 lead out of the first inning.

The Tigers picked up two runs in the bottom of the second inning, but VHS added three more in the top of the third off hits by McCaw and Moye. That put the Indians on top, 9-2. VHS plated seven more runs in the fourth inning to extend their lead to 16-2.

Swainsboro scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth, but one more from Vidalia in the top of the fifth made the score 17-4. Swainsboro got one more in the bottom of the fifth, but it was not enough as VHS took the win by the run rule, 17-5.

VHS will now move into the second round of the State Playoffs to take on Social Circle on the road this week. They will play a double header on Thursday with the first game starting at 5:30 p.m. If necessary, they will play a third game on Friday at 4:00 p.m.