VHA Eagles Into Final 4
The Eagles baseball team of Vidalia Heritage Academy swept Flint River Academy's Wildcats in the Elite 8 of the GIAA State Playoffs last Friday in Woodbury. They played a best-of-three series with VHA winning and moving on to the Final 4.
Game 1
The Eagles jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning on RBI singles by Jake Adams and Trevor White.
The Wildcats picked up a run in the bottom of the second inning to close the lead to 2-1. They plated three more runs in the third inning to jump into a 4-2 lead over VHA.
VHA picked up a run in the top fo the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Maddyx Herrin, and then took the lead back in the fifth inning. Adams led things off in the fifth with a solo home run to tie the game at 4-4. Trevor White was hit by a pitch, and he was followed by back-to-back doubles from Greer Posey and RJ Wells to put the Eagles on top, 6-4.
Flint River jumped back into the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. A big three-run home run put the Wildcats out in front, 7-6. But the Eagles answered in the top of the seventh inning. Pearson O’neal led off the inning with a single to right. With one out, Posey walked, putting runners on first and second. The Eagles then tied and took the lead on back-to-back RBI singles by Wells and Herrin. Adams then added an insurance run later in the inning to give the Eagles the 9-7 lead and eventual game 1 win.
White was the winning pitcher for the Eagles going 6 strong innings with 9 strikeouts. Herrin got the save striking out 2. Adams and Wells led the Eagles with 3 hits apiece.
Game 2
In Game 2, the Eagles took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly by Jacob Beasley and a run scoring single by RJ Wells.
Flint River scored a run in the third inning and another in the fifth to tie the score at 2-2.
After going scoreless in three straight innings, the Eagles burst through in the bottom of the sixth. The inning got going with a lead off single to right by O’Neal. Beasley then put down a sacrifice bunt to move O’Neal to second. After Greer Posey reached safely on a fielder’s choice, the Wildcats intentionally walked Wells to load the bases. Then with two outs, Luke Moxley stepped up to the plate and delivered a grand slam home run to leftcenter, giving the Eagles the 6-2 lead. VHA held in the seventh to take the win, 6-2, and punch their ticket to the Final 4. Greer Posey pitched 6 strong innings, allowing 2 runs, only 1 earned, and struck out 9. Wells closed out the 7th, striking out 1.
The Eagles will go on the road to Bainbridge on Thursday where they will face Grace Christian Academy in their best-of-three series. They will kick that off with a double header on Thursday with Game 1 at 2:00 p.m. If necessary they will play a third game on Friday.
