MORGAN COUNTY
After winning the region, the Morgan County baseball program hosted its first series as the area’s No. 1 seed in the GHSA Class 3A State Playoffs earlier this week.
The Diamond Dogs faced the Savannah Country Day Hornets last Monday in a double-header that started at 5 p.m. The Bulldogs defeated the Hornets in both games that evening to clinch its spot in the next round.
In Game 1, the bats for both sides got going early. Savannah Country Day began the top half of the first with a run off with a run, but Morgan County responded with a couple of hits of its own to bring in a run to tie it up going into the second.
From then on out, the first game was a pitcher’s duel. Bulldog freshman Ty Tillery got the start on the bump and threw an efficient game.
After the first inning, Tillery strung together four straight scoreless innings for the Diamond Dogs which included getting out of multiple jams.
The most important was in the top of the fifth inning where Tillery found himself in a situation with two on and nobody out. With both runners in scoring position, Tillery proceeded to strike out three straight Hornet batters to get out of the inning without giving up a run.
In the bottom half of the fifth, Morgan County was able to break the deadlock and push ahead 2-1 on a Brendan Conway sacrifice fly to right field.
The rest of Game 1 was all Diamond Dogs as head coach Merritt Ainslie’s squad outscored Savannah Country Day 4-1 in the last couple of innings to win the contest 6-2.
Morgan County rolled into Game 2 not missing a beat.
The Diamond Dogs were able to defeat the Hornets once again to win the overall series and advance to the Sweet 16.
For their next matchup, Morgan County will host Columbus High School this Saturday, April 29. Game 1 will begin at 1:00 p.m. with the next game starting shortly after the first game concludes.
The Diamond Dogs found themselves in the same position last year when they traveled to Franklin County for their Sweet 16 series in 2022. Unfortunately for Ainslie’s team, they were unable to defeat the Lions and were sent home early.
Now, Morgan County’s young, talented core has found its stride, and they hope to see better results this time around.