BROOKLET – The Liberty County Panthers were three outs away Friday night from advancing to the second round of the Class AAA state baseball playoffs.
Southeast Bulloch’s rally late in Game 2 carried over into Saturday afternoon, and the host Yellow Jackets took a convincing 15-2 win in Game 3 to take the series.
Liberty, after taking Game 1 11-6, led Game 2 7-2 after three innings and carried an 11-9 lead into the seventh inning.
But the Yellow Jackets struck for three runs in the top of the seventh, loading the bases with no outs. They scored on an infield single, a walk and a balk to take the lead.
Jahair Rodriguez drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the seventh but a fly out to left field ended the game.
SEB scored seven runs in the bottom of the first in Game 3, and added five runs in the second. They used six hits, six walks, three hit batters and seven stolen bases in breaking open the game. The Panthers also were charged with eight errors.
Murphy Grovenstein held the Panthers (23-10) to four singles in the deciding game. He struck out five and walked three in five innings. Caden Chancey and Anthony Gerace each collected one RBI for the Panthers.
The Jackets had six hits and drew six walks, while three batters were hit by a pitch. Eight players had at least one RBI.
Rodriguez drove in four runs in the opener, and Gerace, Chancey and Shedrick Pass each had two RBIs in the win. Pass, Gerace and Wyatt Huston each went 2-for-4, and Ezzard Jemison was 2-for-2. Glemon English was 2-for-2 with a double and also drew three walks.
SEB had six hits and drew eight walks in the opener.
The Panthers had 10 hits and got 10 walks in Game 2, building a 10-7 lead after five innings. Gerace doubled and drove in four runs, plating three with his bases-loaded double in the fifth, while Chancey and Jaden Herrington each had two RBIs. Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with a triple and Pass went 2-for-4. English and Jemison each had a double.
Two singles, two walks and a balk led to three SEB runs in the top of the seventh in Game 2. The Yellow Jackets finished with 10 hits and eight walks, with Brady Edwards going 3-for-4, A.J. Jackson going 2-for-3 and Rhett Morgan going 2-for-4.
English finished the series 4-for-5 at the plate, and Gerace was 4-for-9 with seven RBIs. Chancey finished 3-for-11 with five RBIs, Rodriguez was 3-for-11 with four RBIs, Pass went 3-for-9 and knocked in three runs, Huston was 4-for-9, Jemison was 3-for-8, Miller went 2-for-10 and Herrington had three RBIs.
