By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
GUYTON – South Effingham’s baseball team started the week with a chance at a subregion No. 1 seeding for the Region 1-5A baseball tournament in two weeks.
The week ended with the Mustangs looking at a probable No. 3 seed and a tough series on the road just to get to the state tournament.
No one ever said life was going to be easy.
But South grabbed a momentum-building 13-2 victory over Brunswick on Friday night at Tony Kirkland Field to avoid a sweep by the Pirates in the three-game showdown series.
The Mustangs’ poor defensive play led to Brunswick’s come-from-behind 4-3 win on March 17.
Two days later, Jordan Lodise, who committed to the University of Central Florida, silenced South’s bats in the Pirates’ 3-0 victory.
SEHS (11-8, 5-4 Region 1-5A South) needed to win two of the three games against Brunswick and sweep a three-game set with struggling Bradwell Institute to claim the South subregion’s No. 1 seed.
Instead, Glynn Academy pole vaulted to win the subregion. Brunswick could claim second by winning two-of-three games in its upcoming series against Statesboro.
Most likely, the Mustangs, who began their final subregion series against Bradwell Institute on March 24, slipped to third and will be on the road to play the No. 2 seed from the North in the region tournament – possibly Evans, Greenbrier or Effingham County.
“Obviously, we would have loved to have the No. 1 seed, but like I told the kids, you don’t get anything for winning the subregion,” Mustangs coach Jesse Osborne said. “There’s no trophy. Other than being a host in the region tournament, there’s nothing. You still have to win two out of three (to move on to the region final four). The ultimate prize is winning the region and it doesn’t matter what (subregion) seed you are. We still have a chance to win the region.”
It’s not a far-fetched notion because South has been competitive in every game this season. Eight losses are by a total of 15 runs and the Mustangs haven’t lost a game by more than three runs all season. Four defeats have been by one run.
When the SEHS offense gets hot, the results can look like Friday’s game. On Senior Night, the seniors led. Senior Collin Harvey’s grand slam highlighted a nine-run second inning and the Mustangs tied their single-game high of 13 runs for the third time this season.
Seniors JT Barkley and Dalton Redmond both had two hits. Barkley drove in two runs and Redmond added an RBI.
Sophomore Jacob Duncan also had two hits and an RBI and freshman James Brooks drove in two runs with a pinch-hit single.
Right-hander Bryce Hodges pitched three scoreless innings, striking out four and allowing just two hits.
“We got a little of the frustration out,” Osborne said. “These boys don’t quit. They know we had two tough games. Coming in tonight, things hadn’t gone our way. The only thing you can do is work. … We’ll carry this win into next week and hopefully carry momentum into the region tournament.”
