It is official, the Bryan County High School Redskin Baseball team is going to state playoffs. With the 7-6 win against the Jenkins County Eagles Friday night the Redskins secured their spot in the state playoffs to begin May 11 in Turner County.
The Redskins traveled to Millen Friday for the second meeting this season with the Jenkins County Eagles. The first time these two teams met, the Redskins narrowly defeated the Eagles in a 2-0 victory. With the Eagle offense struggling against Senior Wesley Wilkes’ pitching, the Eagle defense stepped up to hold the Redskins to only two runs. This time the Eagles were prepared for Wilkes and took the lead early with two runs in the first inning and two in the second. The Redskins were only able to close the gap by one run in the third inning but the Eagles continued to lengthen their lead and came back to bat in the fourth scoring two additional runs. The Redskins were watching their playoff hopes begin to fade as they went into the fifth inning down by five runs. But the Redskins refused to give up and put six runs on the board in the fifth inning to take a lead that they would not give up in the remainder of the game. With a lead in hand, pitcher Wesley Wilkes stopped the Eagle hitting spree and held them to six total runs and seven hits. Wilkes struck out eight Jenkins County batters for the night and extended his record to 5-3.
The Redskin batters battled back in the fifth inning scoring the runs necessary to take the lead and ensure a victory. Leading batters included Ricky Myrick going 2 for 3; Aaron Dudley, Wesley Wilkes, Andrew Cook, Trey Boatright and Justin Covington all recorded one hit each and Kurt Shuman hit a 3 RBI Double. The Eagles didn’t give up and battled to try and regain the lead with aggressive base running but BCHS catcher Andrew Cook was ready and stopped the Jenkins County runners, throwing out several would be steals and eliminating any advancement the Eagles hoped to make. Cook ended the Eagles attempts at victory in the game ending play at third base as the tying run attempted the steal on a ball in the dirt which Cook recovered and threw for the out, putting the Redskins in the playoffs.
Coach Al Butler had this to say of his Redskins, "The win clinched a playoff spot for out boys! They really deserve it. We have fought all year long to get our game on track where it needs to be and I feel we have finally hit that point. You always hear of teams peaking at the right time. I’d say it can’t get any more right than right now - one week before the first round of the state playoffs. Wesley pitched a good game Friday also helping us to take the lead. Once the lead was in hand, Wes went out and tamed the Eagle line up. Andrew Cook had a few HUGE plays - throwing runners out who where trying to advance and gunning down the tying run at third to put the Redskins in the playoffs!
The win gives the Redskins a 10-11 overall record and a 5-6 Region 3A record. The Redskins celebrate their Senior players Tuesday at their last home game at 5pm against Claxton High School. Then it is on to Turner County to play the first round of the state play offs in a Best of 3 series.