Thomasville baseball advances to elite eight in 2-1 series win
May 1—THOMASVILLE — It was a hard fought three-game series against Pike County for the Thomasville Bulldogs as they fought their way through the sweet 16 in the state baseball tournament.
Thomasville's pitching staff was magnificent in the series. Game one was led by Jay Harrison's six-inning and six-strikeout performance, followed by Jadon Lirette's single inning of relief, featuring a pair of strikeouts.
Though the Bulldogs lost game two, Ethan Barrett was solid on the bump. He gave up five hits, but pitched a complete game and recorded 11 K's. Cruz McCall doubled down on that performance in game three, pitching a complete game himself and recording 12 K's.
Over the course of the series, the Bulldogs' pitching staff faced 75 Pike County batters, allowed just 13 hits, struck out 31 Pirates and walked just 10 batters.
The Bulldogs' bats looked good as well, even in the game two loss. They combined for 22 hits in the three-game set and drove in 13 RBI's as a team.
Jadon Lirette was by far the MVP of the series. The Bulldog senior had five hits and seven RBI's in ten at-bats and jacked a homer in game two. Perhaps even more impressive is that Lirette struck out just once in the series. Lirette also took the mound in game one, finishing the Pirates off to take the win as he recorded two K's in the seventh.
Now the Bulldogs will head to the elite eight, hosting Oconee County on Saturday. At first glance, the Warriors don't seem like a big threat. They are 19-14 overall and finished 8-7 in region play, securing third in the region and forcing them to play all of their playoff games away. A Cinderella team that will ultimately fall to a better team like Thomasville, right?
Then they entered the playoffs and knocked off Carver in two games. Oconee destroyed Carver, outscoring the Panthers 36-1.They then upset No. 1 seed Ringgold in three games, taking games two and three after dropping game one. This Oconee team is scrappy and can get hot and that makes them dangerous. This sets up what could be an explosive and entertaining elite eight matchup.
The series will begin on Saturday with game one slated to begin at 1 p.m.
