BASEBALL: Trinity sweeps Georgia Christian to reach first state semifinal in eight years

Some overachieving Trinity Crusaders not only handled business against Georgia Christian in two games of their state baseball quarterfinal series Thursday, but also took it upon themselves to write out a headline for their sweep before leaving the field to call it a night. 

“Final Four (his glory),” a catchy suggestion passed along postgame by head coach Josh Ward, was one they seemed to already have in mind for much of the spring building up to this week’s GIAA playoff debut, and a shot to advance to the state semifinals that’s been several seasons in the making. 

This was Trinity’s third consecutive year reaching the second weekend of the state tournament, but both its last last two appearances ended with losses on the road. 

This time, the fourth-seeded Crusaders were the home team off a first-round bye, and didn’t miss their chance to finally get the job done. 

Trinity took a big lead early in game 1, and held on despite a late Georgia Christian comeback threat to win 6-4. The Crusaders fell behind at the start of the nightcap, but battled back to pull away for a 9-2 victory, and clinch the program’s first berth in the penultimate round since 2018. 

Trinity will visit top seed and longtime nemesis Gatewood, which also swept its quarterfinal series against region rival Brentwood Thursday, in next week’s showdown for a shot to play for the state title. 

“It’s a great feeling,” Ward said. “I’m excited for these boys and for these seniors, but it’s just a step to where we want to get to.” 

He summed up the series as a great all-around effort by an experienced squad that knew exactly what was needed to succeed on this postseason stage, and delivered.  

“Our pitchers just did their job, stayed in the strike zone,” Ward said. “We were competitive. We jumped on them really from the start in game 1, and our guys were just resilient. We had good at-bats, all day, and just stayed after them. Great energy from the jump.” 

In game 1, Trinity was able to get on the board in the second inning. 

Nathan Sumner reached on an error to open the frame, stole second and scored on a Carson Shepherd single.  After Shepherd stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch, he would come home a Jakob Sahli knock to make it 2-0.

The Crusaders would tack more on in the third. Ben Helton led off the inning with a double and Asher Evans followed with a bunt hit. Braden Underwood would come up next with an RBI single to right to plate Helton.  

The throw home got over the catcher’s head and rattled around, allowing Evans to score all the way from first to make it 4-0. Two batters later, Sumner drove in the fifth run with a groundout.

The lead grew to 6-0 in the fourth when Cruz Giles tripled to lead off the inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by Helton.

Crusader starter Carter Lee cruised through the first four innings, but ran into a bit of trouble in the fifth.  

Georgia Christian’s Mac Bowling homered to lead off the inning to make the score 6-1. Lee would then walk the next three hitters, and be lifted for a reliever.

Cooper Dasher hit the first batter he faced to make the score 6-2. He was able to settle down and allow just one more run to score, and hold the 6-3 lead into the sixth inning. 

A leadoff walk would come around to score on a two-out hit for the Generals in the sixth. But the runner was gunned down trying to take second by Underwood to end the inning, and keep the score at 6-4.

A one-out error in the seventh brought the tying run to plate, but Sumner was able to pick the runner off and record one final out to earn the save.

“Cooper Dasher did a good job out of the ‘pen, but when we went to Nathan Sumner, he really shut ’em down in those last tow innings,” Ward said. “He didn’t even really give up any baserunners, went straight at them, and did a good job really shutting down any kind of thing that they could get working.” 

Underwood, Shepherd and Giles had two hits each to lead the offense. Helton, Sahli, Evans and Tripp Mascaro also hit safely.

The trio of Lee, Dasher and Sumner limited the Generals to just five hits in the win.

The Crusaders were the visitors in game 2, and went quietly in the top of the first.

Georgia Christian made two quick outs of its own in the bottom of the inning courtesy of great catches by Trinity shortstop Asher Evans, but then got two straight soft singles and a two-run double by Bo Miller to take an early lead. 

Mascaro led off the second with double as Trinity looked to cut into the deficit. He scored on a wild pitch following another hit from Shepherd to make it 2-1. 

The Crusaders would tie it in the third. They loaded the bases on a hit batter, a walk and an error. Mascaro would deliver again with an RBI single to make it 2-2.

Trinity took the lead for good in the fourth. 

Giles and Helton would walk to lead off the frame.  Following an out, Underwood doubled home a run to make it 3-2. Lee would come up next with another sac fly to make it 4-2, and a Sumner single ran the score to 5-2.

Mascaro delivered a sac fly in the sixth to make the score 6-2, and the Crusaders would add three more runs in the seventh without the benefit of a hit.  

An error, a hit batter, and a wild pitch pushed the advantage all the way to 9-2, which held as the final.

Mascaro had a pair of hits to lead the offense.  Underwood, Lee, Sumner, Shepherd and Giles all had hits as well.

Helton got the win with six strong innings on the mound. He scattered six hits and didn’t allow a run after the first. He walked one and struck out five.  

Caesar Rodriguez struck out the side in the seventh in relief.