The ECI baseball team split its two games last week, falling to McIntosh County in a heartbreaker 1-run loss—but the Bulldogs made up for it, winning against Tattnall County in another 1-run affair on Thursday, 9–8.
Tuesday’s loss in Darien was especially hard to swallow, given the Bulldogs led until late in the game.
The contest was tied at 3 with McIntosh batting in the bottom of the fifth. A wild pitch by Jacob Durden allowed the winning run to cross the plate for the Buccaneers, solidifying a 4–3 win for the home team.
Durden shouldered the loss for the Bulldogs on the mound. The righty surrendered 4 runs on 4 hits over 5 innings. He did, however, strike out 5 Buccaneers and only issued 1 walk on the day.
Despite the loss, ECI’s offense was firing well against McIntosh. The Bulldogs tallied 8 hits throughout. Hudson Henry and Jack Walden both had multiple hits with Henry leading the way, chiseling out 3 hits in all three of his at-bats.
Total, the Bulldogs outhit the Bucs 8–5.
Head coach Brooks Collins refocused his team two days later and it showed as ECI outdid Tattnall in front of a home crowd in Twin City.
The Bulldogs took Thursday’s game in dramatic fashion, walking it off for 9–8 win over the Warriors.
ECI opened up scoring early on, striking first in the second inning when Aden McQuaig drew a walk, scoring 1 run.
Despite falling down by 5 runs that same inning, Tattnall attempted to fight back. The Warriors went on to score 8 runs in the failed comeback.
The contest was knotted at 8 as ECI came to the plate in the bottom of the seventh. At that time, Charlie Rehberg (last week’s Athlete of the Week due to a stellar shutout performance against Swainsboro) became the hero, singling on a 1–2 count to score the winning run.
Rehberg had a day on the mound as well. He got the start and went 5.1 innings, limiting the Warriors to 4 runs on 4 hits while striking out 7. Bryce Kearson came in and threw 1.1 innings of relief, allowing just 4 hits and 2 runs while walking 1.
Andrew Chalkley finished the drill on the hill. He came out of the bull pen and threw the final out.
Offensively, Kearson brought the fire power. He recorded ECI’s lone homer against Tattnall on Thursday, a four-bagger in the second inning. This was his first of 2 hits on the day spread out through four at-bats.
ECI was set to rematch against McIntosh on Friday, but the game was rained out and rescheduled for Monday, March 21, in Twin City.
The Bulldogs also take on Bryan County at home, Savannah Country Day on the road, Bryan County on the road, and Screven County at home prior to the next edition of The Crossroads Chronicle.
Look for ECI baseball coverage to continue with results from each of these games next week.
The Bulldogs are currently 8–4 on the year as of press time.