Eagles Are State Runner-Up
The Eagles baseball team of Vidalia Heritage Academy finished as the State Runnerup in their first year as part of the GIAA. They moved to the Georgia Independent Athletic Association (GIAA) from the Georgia Association of Private and Parochial Schools (GAPPS) where they were the three-time defending State Champion. They gave it a good run this year but fell in the finals to the Patriots of Citizens Christian Academy.
The State Championship was held in Columbus at Synovus Park, home of the Columbus Clingstones, the Atlanta Braves AA Team.
Game 1
In the first game of the best-of-three series, held on Thursday, the Patriots pulled away in the second inning on the way to a run rule win over the Eagles.
CCA took the early lead with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. They added to that lead with a big second inning in which they scored seven more runs to take a commanding 9-0 lead over VHA.
Citizens added one more run in the third inning and then three more in the fourth to extend their lead to 13-0. They held in the top of the fifth inning to take the win over Heritage by that score.
VHA had just one hit in the game, and it came from Greer Posey. Pearson O’Neal was the only other runner for VHA with a walk.
Game 2
In the second game of the series the Eagles did do a bit better at the plate with four hits, but they were again kept off the scoreboard as CCA took the win and the Championship. Those four hits for VHA came from Posey, RJ Wells, Jake Adams, and Maddyx Herrin.
CCA put the first runs on the board in the top of the second inning with two runs. They plated another run in the top of the third inning to take a 3-0 lead over VHA.
CCA extended their lead in the top of the fifth inning with three more runs to push the lead to 6-0, and then plated two more in the sixth for an 8-0 lead. Citizens held in the sixth and seventh to win the game, 8-0, over Heritage.
Heritage finished the season with a record of 1615. The Eagles will be losing four seniors off this year’s team: Luke Moxley, Greer Posey, RJ Wells, and Gray McNeal. For their first year in the larger GIAA they showed they can compete and are looking to come back next year with another chance at a State Championship.
