Veterans stopped short of finals in sweep by LG

The waiting game will continue for one more offseason when the Veterans High athletic program takes a step upwards to Class 5A in the GHSA. In the final contests for the Warhawks as a Class 4A school, Veterans baseball made its third straight appearance in the Final Four. But the records will show 0-for-3 in these efforts to reach the championship series as Locust Grove High – No. 2 in Maxpreps.com’s 4A rankings – defeated No. 5 Veterans in a two-game sweep Monday in Henry County.

David Coffey and the Warhawks had gone to Atlanta for the past two rounds of this year’s postseason, taking out Marist in three games and sweeping Woodward Academy. This was the first time, however, Veterans ever returned home on the short end of a road series.

Left-hander Ethan Lindow pitched a complete-game shutout for Locust Grove in Game 1. He held the Warhawks to two hits, picked off two visiting baserunners, walked two and fanned eight.

Andrew Ellison of Veterans matched Lindow in throwing a shutout through three innings. He did issue four walks during that span, but allowed just one hit and simply found a way to record outs to end innings scoreless.

Veterans had runners on the corners with one out in the fourth inning. That included Tyler Daughtry’s single on 0-2 after Logan Arnett reached on an error. Lindow, too, found ways to keep them on base.

Clay Shearhouse then led off the home fourth with a hit to left, and Will Dyar bunted him to second base. Nolan Crisp doubled to left scoring the run, but Ellison kept the scoring to just 1-0.

In the fifth, Locust Grove tacked on one more from a one-out single by Odlanier Rodrigues. He stole second base, and then Wildcats Gavin Lee and Trevor Sellers singled back-to-back. Even with the bases loaded, Ellison escaped still down only 2-0 coaxing a double play ball.

GAME 2

The nightcap between the Warhawks and Wildcats was a bit more wild. Locust Grove, as the visiting team on the scoreboard, scratched across an unearned run in the top of the seventh to break a 7-7 tie. Crisp – in his only inning of relief – got Jacob Giles to line out to the first baseman with the tying run on second base. That ended the Veterans season in an 8-7 loss.

It was a scramble for the Warhawks to get back even with Locust Grove, who scored three runs in the first inning, one in the second and three in the third. The deficit got as much as five runs for Veterans, but a solid relief outing by Griff Faircloth held the hosts down long enough to set up the comeback.

Joah Curry, Wildcat leadoff hitter, had a big game starting with his first-inning single. With two outs he scored on Lee’s hit. It was the first of four straight, Sellers, Shearhouse and Luke Mays all getting safeties to make it 3-0.

Veterans answered with a two-run first, Gabe Holt getting the leadoff hit and scoring on Leyton Pinckney’s hit. Dalton Gilliam doubled for 3-2, but Locust Grove turned the double play to stay on top.

Curry batted and reached base again in the top of the second. Colton Bailey’s single brought him home. In the third, the Wildcats had the bases loaded, and Curry and Bailey batted home runs to make it 7-2.

Gilliam’s two-run home run highlighted a third inning turn for the Warhawks that produced three runs. They pulled back within two and put Faircloth on the mound starting in the fourth.

In the next three innings, Faircloth gave up just two hits, and both were to Rodrigues. He tripled with two outs in the top of the sixth but did not score.

It was before that hit that the Warhawks rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Pinckney reached on an infield hit. Rodrigues was pitching his second relief inning and gave up the base hit to Gilliam for his fourth RBI.

Coffey had the team running in this inning, and Gilliam’s attempt to steal second led to an error and third base. Giles then singled him home for 7-7.

The big error of the game, however, was in the seventh after Sellers led off with an infield hit. He stole second, and Shearhouse looked to bunt him to third. He put the ball in play, but here came the mistake plating Sellers. The Warhawk double play kept them in striking distance, but Crisp got his team into the finals.

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