Following their 13-4 loss to Brantley County on Tuesday, Liberty County High School baseball had one final game of the season to win before the region tournament, their senior night game against Portal High School.
Scoreless in the first two innings, things picked up in the third when Portal attacked first with three runs in the top. The Panthers answered back in the bottom half with three runs of their own. With Aric Albertson on third and one out in the inning, Dylan Stewart hit a single to first, bringing Albertson home. Following a Ronnie Keaton single, Jacob Albertson hit a RBI single to bring home Stewart. Finally, Keaton came home to score off an error to tie the game at three.
The score remained tied until the sixth inning, when the Panthers of Portal brought home a run off an RBI base hit in the top of the inning, giving them a 4-3 lead. The Panthers of Liberty answered in the same inning, but this time they added two runs and garnered their first lead of the night.
With runners on the corners and two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Patrick Underwood hit a grounder to Portal’s second basemen, who bobbled the ball, bringing home Brett Smith from third base, and moving Aric Albertson from first to third. In the next at bat, Albertson scored from third off a passed ball, to give Liberty a 5-4 lead.
Albertson also started on the mound for Liberty, throwing six innings and earning 10 strikeouts. Stewart came in to relieve Albertson in the seventh and faced the minimum from Portal, striking out the first two batters and forcing the final batter to ground out right back to him for Liberty to lock the W. Both Stewart and Ronnie Keaton finished with three hits each.
The Panthers finished with regular season with a 5-20 regular season record and a 1-9 region record. They will prepare for the Region 2-3A tournament next.
Bradwell
Bradwell Institute baseball finished their regular season with a 9-0 loss to Richmond Hill for the Warriors to complete the sweep on the Tigers. They finish the regular season with a 4-20 regular season record and went 1-11 in region play. They prepare for the Region 2-AAAAAA tournament next.