The gnats were unusually heavy and Bryan County was hitless and trailing host McIntosh County Academy 1-0 through three innings Tuesday evening in an important Region 3A-DII baseball game.
In an attempt to jump start his team Redskins coach Kyle Farmer turned to his version of a gnat attack and that, along with another solid pitching performance from senior righthander Cooper Ennis, was all it took to propel Bryan County (12-7, 9-2) to a 6-1 win over the Buccaneers.
The Redskins had runners in scoring position each of the first three innings but were unable to come up with a base hit against MCA starter Jackson Coley.
Cay’ron Rawls led off the fourth by reaching on a bunt. Gunner Ennis and Krish Patel followed by also reaching on bunts against a now rattled looking Bucs infield. All of this led to a three-run inning from which MCA could not recover.
After Rawls scored on Patel’s bunt down the third base line Gunner Ennis scored when catcher Layne Shuman couldn’t handle Coley’s low pitch and Patel came in on Ethan Williams’ grounder to third.
That led to Cooper Ennis getting all the run support he needed. Ennis gave up a run in the first when Logan Gault singled leading off, stole second and scored on Coley’s single to right.
The potential of a big inning, however, was quelled when catcher Eli Koskela threw out Coley attempting to steal and Ennis struck out the next two hitters. Ennis wound up scattering seven hits while striking out two and walking none in five innings of work.
The Redskins put it out of reach when they tacked on two runs in sixth and added one more in the seventh. The sixth inning runs were the result of a wild pitch and three-base throwing error while Williams got his second RBI of the game with another fielder’s choice in the seventh.
The Bryan County defense also shone as it turned a nifty double play in the second. After Kenton Lynn’s one out single Shuman grounded to Patel who throw to AJ Thomas at first. When Lynn made a wide turn Thomas alertly threw behind him to complete the twin killing.
“We work on that play every day,” said Farmer who took note of the pesky gnats. “I feel right at home with these gnats.
It reminded me of when I played in high school at Calvary and we practiced and played at Bethesda. We always had gnats.”
Taking advantage of the late opportunities they had and Ennis’ strong pitching put the Redskins in position to clinch a playoff berth when the two teams meet at 6 p.m. Friday at Bryan County.
“Mr. Reliable,” Farmer said of Ennis. “Cooper is going to give us a shot to win each game he pitches. He pitched a good game today. He ran out of gas a little early.”
Ennis was replaced by Koskela who wasn’t his usual sharp self as he walked three and hit a batter while giving up one hit. He got out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth by striking out the final two hitters of the inning. In the seventh Williams threw out a runner at third who was trying to advance on a low pitch.
Bryan County, which played at Jenkins on Wednesday, currently sits in third-place in the region with five games remaining. After facing the Bucs, it has two games with both Screven County and Metter.
ECI 14-4, 10-1), is in first after beating Screven County (11-5, 8-1) on Tuesday. Metter (8-10, 8-3) is a game back in fourth followed by MCA (4-13, 3-6).
“We’re just focused on Friday,” Farmer said. “We’re not looking ahead to Metter or Screven. What we have left in the region it doesn’t matter if we don’t take care of business Friday at our place.
“McIntosh is a very good club. They played ECI and Metter to one-run games. It’s hard to win on the road in this region. I’ve said it before and I’m going to keep preaching it because it’s that hard. McIntosh will come ready to play Friday.”