Despite not making the state playoffs for a second consecutive year, the Lake Oconee Academy baseball team (10-14, 7-11) ended its 2022 season on a positive note.
The Titans went unbeaten last week, defeating both Lincoln County (12-11) last Monday and Putnam County (8-6) on Thursday.
“I was very pleased with our performances, especially against Putnam (County),” LOA head coach Jeremy Donaldson said. “The Lincoln (County) game had some ugliness to it, although I am really glad to win ugly than lose. Regardless, the win over Putnam County was big for us. Plus, it gave us some faith heading into next year.”
A strong performance from Owen Etris on the mound, combined with a four-run lead after the first inning, propelled the Titans past the War Eagles on Senior Night.
The senior right-hander went 5.1 innings, limiting Putnam County to five hits and three runs. Etris also struck out 11 hitters and only gave up three walks.
“Owen came out and set the tone for us,” Donaldson said. “He had a lot of strikeouts and competed well for us in his last game. We also had some offense behind him. It felt like an all-around team win to finish out the regular season.”
That four-run inning proved to be costly forPutnam County in the long run. LOA’s Harrison Tolleson led off the top half of the first with a single. He and Garrett Payne would cross the plate a few batters later after an Ian Watson double.
The Titans proceeded to get three more runners on base as War Eagles’ pitcher Tanner Lukens struggled. They would plate two more runs off of bases-loaded walks, which gave them a 4-0 advantage over PCHS after one.
The War Eagles would be held at zero until the top of the third inning when Gerald Kilgore tripled with two outs, which scored Jacob Grimes. He would then come around to score after Chase Lupton hit a gapper to left field during the next at-bat.
However, the Titans would answer in the bottom of the frame as Tolleson had an RBI single that scored both Sumner Coleman and Etris. They would never give up the lead and added two more in the sixth inning to secure the victory.
“We would answer whenever they would,” Donaldson said. “It was a great way to send off our seniors.” Etris finished his
Etris finished his career at Lake Oconee Academy with more than 200 career strikeouts. He also led the Titans in that same category (75) in 2022 as well as ERA (3.60).
“Owen (Etris) has been a leader on our team for a couple of years now,” Donaldson said. “We are surely going to miss him, especially on the mound.”
Noah Strausbaugh was the other senior for Lake Oconee Academy. He’s been a utility player for the Titans for the last several years. Strausbaugh ended his senior season with a .500 on-base and .308 slugging percentage. Defensively, he also had three putouts and a .643 fielding percentage in 2022.
“Noah has been a steady guy for us,” Donaldson said. “He has a high baseball IQ. He is also a guy you can always count on, whether it’s pitching, playing second or getting us a quality at-bat. Noah was always out there grinding.”