BASEBALL: West Laurens sweeps Northwest Whitfield, advances to state quarterfinals

For a second-straight playoff series, the West Laurens Raiders had their opponent right where they wanted it. 

Things played out in the inverse of their first-round sweep, in which the first game went quickly and the second was tougher to close. But after outlasting Northwest Whitfield to walk off with the opener of last Thursday’s set, they were once again in position to put away the series along with the finale, and didn’t miss the opportunity. 

West Laurens followed up its heart-pounding 3-2 win in an extra inning with a 12-2 rout needing only five to break the brooms back out and clinch its spot in the AAA state quarterfinals. 

The Raiders last reached the final eight in 2021, but this year’s team becomes the program’s first since 2019 to do so with sweeps in both rounds leading in. 

“I’m proud of the kids. They played hard, played well,” said West Laurens head coach Parker Gordon. “We challenged them after our games last week against Gilmer, when we have the foot on the throat let’s squeeze ’em and let’s go get this thing done, and that’s what we did today in game 2.” 

What pieces began to fall into place for the Raiders a week before only did so more cohesively on Thursday, as the excellent pitching of senior Kolby Clark and freshman Brycen Milton – paired with some opportune and error-free defense – carried them through the 13 innings. 

Though offense was just enough to get by early in the day, their lineup atoned with a hit-fest in game 2 that had pretty much everyone feeling optimistic as they left the field. 

“It’s surreal,” Clark said. “We’re building a bond over here. All these guys, we just feed off each other’s energy. And everyone just comes ready to play, just with loads of confidence. We’re gonna keep it rolling.” 

Each of the Raiders’ three runs scored against Northwest in the first game were unforced. 

Despite an otherwise dazzling outing, complete with 14 strikeouts, the Bruins’ lefty ace Will Wade couldn’t get out of his own way in the opening inning as he walked three men, and hit two more, giving up one run via bases-loaded walk, and another on a wild pitch. 

The rest of his afternoon was perfect, with the exception of back-to-back singles going the opposite way by Buck Shepherd and Cohen Cardwell in the third inning. 

But Wade, due to the excess of pitches in the eight at-bat first, would eventually hit his 120-pitch maximum in the process of striking out the side in the bottom of the seventh. 

“Every inning matters when you’ve got a kid like the Wade kid up there,” Gordon said. “He was dominant up there after the first inning. But in the first inning, for us, getting him up to like 25 pitches, I believe, really set the tone of knowing that, OK, we have the opportunity here to get him out.” 

With the Northwest Florida State commit now relegated to his non-pitching post in left field, the Bruins went to reliever Carter Collins after their three hits in the top of the eighth went for naught. 

Clark rolled a single up the middle to greet him, and some great hustle allowed Grant Baker to beat the throw – delayed by a bobble – on a would-be sacrifice bunt to put runners first and second. 

Shepherd moved both ahead with a ground ball to first, and courtesy runner Gunner Coleman skipped home with no throw to score the winning run as a breaking ball pinballed away to the left of catcher Weston Densmore on a critical wild pitch. 

Coleman was mobbed by teammates behind the plate in the postgame celebration. 

“It was pretty amazing,” he said. “I haven’t ever done anything like that before. Coach Pollock also tells us to get a good read, and do what you’re supposed to do. I did that and it paid off really well.” 

Clark turned in just as outstanding a pitching performance, with his eight innings yielding 10 strikeouts and only two walks. 

Northwest’s six hits included solo homers for both runs. 

Freshman Smith Browning – after going yard four times in the Bruins’ first-round sweep of Heritage – took one out to left center in his first trip up during the bottom of the second to quickly cut the Raiders’ 2-0 lead in half. 

But the damage was limited to a run by the 4-6-3 double play involving Cardwell and Nathan Hester to rebound from a leadoff walk just before. 

Densmore also took one deep to right, but only to the fence for a long single before Clark got Ethan Searles swinging to end the inning. 

Trent Hixson lifted a no-doubter out to straightaway center for the equalizer with two outs in the sixth to officially turn it into a nailbiter. 

“It was insane, just trying to stay composed after big home runs like that,” Clark said. “I used to be really bad about it. But I’ve learned, just flush it, get to the next pitch, get to the next batter, and work off of that.” 

Tied the score remained thanks to three more of his strikeouts in the seventh, and two ginormous defensive plays from J.J. Giles – who made the running catch of a fading Gavin Nuckolls fly in the right center gap – and Nathan Hester – with a heads-up play to back a grounder that evaded his third baseman Cason Pollock for a throw to get the lead runner and out No. 2 at second. 

Wade and Hixson followed with base hits, but not the needed RBI, before a simple pop fly to first ended the threat. And that’s when the Raiders’ window of opportunity at the plate finally opened. 

Though things got a little frustrating going against a top-flight hurler, Gordon praised the discipline of his hitters in playing the long game. 

“Where we struggled in the past, we’d get up there and be one or two pitches and we’re out, or we’re striking out with four pitches, we battled with a lot of 3-2 counts up there against Wade to make his pitch count go up,” he said. “When we got to the bottom of the seventh, we were making some strategic moves there with guys that see the zone better, to make sure we got the pitch count to 120 or above 120 to get him out of there, knowing we’d have the opportunity when the reliever came in. 

“So I’m proud of the guys. Wade’s a (heck) of a pitcher. He’s gonna do a great job in college, and gave us all he could give us today.” 

It was the type of all-in hand that you can’t afford to lose. And Northwest Whitfield wasn’t able to bounce back as the home team in game 2. 

The fate of the series became evident as soon as the Raiders jumped on game 2 pitcher Kaylor Stancill in a first inning that started out as a Minute Grill order, with singles all around for J.D. Hogan, Grant Baker, Shepherd, Cardwell and Pollock to give Milton a 4-0 lead before he even took the mound. 

“It feels great,” he said. “You just go out there and have fun at that point.” 

The steady diet of hits continued as three more chalked up two in the second. After a break in the third, it was back to work with two for three in the fourth, and four for the final three in the fifth. 

“Hits are contagious,” Gordon said. “The good thing for us and the program, and where we’re headed next week in the quarterfinals and starting to get this rolling, it looks like we’re getting hot. If we can get hot, anything can happen from here on out.” 

Baker, in his long-awaited postseason breakout, went 4-for-4 with three RBIs. 

Hogan and Clark were 3-for-4. 

Shepherd, Cardwell, Pollock and Giles added singles, and Duggan Malone a run driven in.

“I think we came out and we knew we had a little bit more energy than they did, because we had a little more momentum,” Hogan said. “Right before we came out and played, we went into the locker room and listened to a little speech from Kirby Smart that got us going. I think that was a good little team bonding event right there.” 

Against West’s 14 hits, the Bruins could only come up with three, though two came in timely spots as Wade struck an RBI double in the first inning and Collins did the same in the second to take back a couple of the earliest six. 

Milton, after plunking two and walking one in between the hits in the first, settled in nicely the rest of the way, going on to strike out six and walk only two more, also catching an 11th runner of the season with his lethal move to first. 

Defense picked him up just as faithfully throughout, with plays from the routine to the highlight-worthy. Cardwell made a tumbling catch on a shallow pop to retire the side with the bases full of Bruins in the second, and Giles a sliding grab on a gapper to steal a hit in the eventually scoreless third. 

“I feel like the team really had my back the first inning, scoring all those runs,” Milton said. “I’d come out here and I’d pitch, they’d catch the ball, they made plays. They made good plays and they scored a lot of runs, and that’s the reason we won.” 

West Laurens now heads on the road in the playoffs for the first time since that 2019 squad’s second-round visit to Cairo as it travels to the North Georgia mountains to take on No. 3 overall seed Pickens. 

The Dragons, who were only narrowly knocked out by eventual state champ Troup last spring, are back for a run at it all with most of their 2025 roster intact, notably a loaded pitching staff headlined by Auburn-committed flamethrower A.J. Rice. He and separate game 2 starters in each of the first two rounds have combined to give up only one run out of four postseason games so far. 

Though the Raiders will have their work cut out at the plate, they have good reason to feel their pitching staff – of which the surface has barely been scratched through two rounds – can hold its own to give them a puncher’s chance when the series opens with a doubleheader in Jasper on Wednesday night. 

“When you get to the elite eight, all eight teams can win the title,” Gordon said. “It is always gonna come down to key hitting. It’s always gonna come down to who is hot. It’s gonna come down to throwing strikes, and the ball’s gotta bounce your way a little bit.”