Sweep of Southland has Trinity headed to second-straight baseball semifinal

After struggling a bit to close out the regular season, the Trinity Crusaders looked to get back on track Thursday in the quarterfinals of the GIAA state tournament.  

Standing in their way was a Southland team that rolled into Dublin with an identical 15-9 record as the Crusaders. The Raiders had also won 11 of their last 13 games, including a first-round sweep of Georgia Christian in a pair of run-ruled contests.

Trinity was able to rebound in a big way as it broke out its own brooms, defeating the Raiders 10-0 and 11-1, to roll into the state semifinals. 

The Crusaders got on the board first in the second inning of the opener. 

Braden Underwood led off the frame with a walk and Andrew Helton was hit by a pitch. Following a sacrifice bunt, Alston Bryan also walked to load the bases. Jakob Sahli coaxed another free pass to put the Crusaders on the board, 1-0.

Asher Evans, who had a monster day at the plate, followed with a double to score a pair and make it 3-0. After Sahli scored on a wild pitch, Carter Lee would also double to put the Crusaders up 5-0.

Southland threatened to score in the fourth as it loaded the bases with one out on a hit batter, an error and a walk. Kolbi Grooms would end the threat with a pair of strikeouts.

Trinity added to its lead in the bottom of the inning after two batters reached on one-out errors. Tayt Evans would single home a run to make it a 6-0 Crusader lead.

They put the game away in the fifth. Jake Johnson led off the inning with a pinch-hit double and Jasper Dean followed with a walk.

After they both advanced on a sacrifice bunt, Asher Evans delivered his second two-run double of the game to make it 8-0.  

Grooms and Lee were both hit by pitches to load the bases, and Tayt Evans reached on another Raider error in center field to score a pair and end the game. 

Asher Evans led the offense with three hits and drove in four. Lee, Johnson, Helton and Tayt Evans also hit safely, and the Crusaders took advantage of six Southland errors.

Grooms allowed a hit to the first batter of the contest, but no more in a five-inning complete game shutout. He walked two and struck out six, as he ran his record to 6-2 on the year.

Game 2 started about the same as neither team scored in the first. 

Trinity, which was the visiting team, looked like it would go quietly in the second with two quick outs.  However Alston Bryan and Sahli, the last two hitters in the order, both walked to extend the inning. 

Asher Evans came up next and ripped his third two-run double of the day to put the Crusaders up 2-0.  Grooms would drive him home with a hit to make it 3-0.  

Lee kept the frame alive with another hit, and an error would make it 4-0. A fifth run would score on a wild pitch, and Underwood would plate the final two-out run of the inning with another double to make it 6-0.

Trinity added another run in the fourth. Tayt Evans led off with a walk and Underwood would come through with another double. Helton drove home a run with a groundout to make it 7-0.

Southland finally got a run back in the bottom of the fourth off of Asher Evans on with a walk and a double to make it 7-1.

Trinity broke the game open in the sixth. Tayt Evans led off with a triple. Following an out, a hit batter would place runners at the corners.

Southland looked like it may get out of the jam as Evans was caught too far off of third base and tagged out in a rundown for the second out of the frame. But a walk to Johnson extended the inning, and Bryan came up next with an RBI single to make it 8-1. 

After that, Sahli laced a triple into the right field corner to make it 10-1. Asher Evans then helped his own cause again with a single to right to push the advantage to double digits. 

He would then strike out the side in the bottom of the sixth to seal the win and send the Crusaders to the final four for the second-straight year. 

Asher Evans, Grooms and Underwood each had a pair of hits in the contest, with Evans driving in three more. Tayt Evans, Lee, Bryan and Sahli also had hits. Trinity scored 10 runs with two outs.

Evans earned his eighth win of the season in the complete game. He scattered five hits, while walking one and striking out six.

Next week, the Crusaders (17-9 overall) will travel to Eatonton for the second year in a row to face Gatewood with a spot in the state finals on the line.