If you arrived early and left early then you missed the comeback. The Bradwell Institute Tigers trailed Brantley County for most of Mondays game, but rallied in the bottom of the sixth inning, leading to a 7-5 win.
The win avenged the 17-2 loss the boys suffered from the Herons Nahunta last week.
At first it looked bleak. The Hinesville boys trailed 2-0 in the bottom of the second and had already committed four errors.
Tiger Garrett McCorkle hit one just inside the fence for a double and Eran Hodge hit another double. But with two runners on, the Tigers hit two pop flies and had a batter strike out.
In the fourth, a Heron batter made first and stole second on a wild throw by Tiger catcher Josh Driggers. Another Heron batter smacked one out to centerfield, allowing a run. Brantley County got two more runners on base and one stole home off a wild pitch by Eric Wells.
Brantley County slugged another ball that was fielded by Tiger Leonard Felton, but they were able to score and go up 5-0 as the top of the fourth closed.Tiger Josh Rivers got a base hit and stole second. McCorkle hit another shot down the third baseline, scoring Rivers.
Neither team scored in the fifth and the Tiger defense held in the sixth, when the Tiger batters met a new Brantley pitcher.
Rivers and McCorkle walked and Hodge loaded the bases with a hit. Driggers hit a pop fly and the Tigers faced two outs with bases loaded. Wells faced a full count and walked, which brought in a score. Jacob Dill walked for another run.
Brantley County brought in a new pitcher. Tiger Nick Snider, getting his first varsity start, was hit in the helmet with a pitch for another RBI. And then Felton walked, tying the game at 5.
The Tigers kept their focus and held the Herons to get their last at bat in the bottom of the seventh. McCorkle walked. The Tigers again faced two outs with McCorkle on base. Driggers stepped up and nailed a homer over the left field fence for the 2-run win.
"We didn’t show any quit," coach Rhett Hellgren said. "You have to play a complete seven innings and we did. We might not have played very well in the first five, but a game is seven innings and that is what the guys played.
Hellgren said he was impressed with Wells, who pitched the entire game.
"Eric pitched better than anyone that we have had in the four years that I have been here," he said of Wells’ 87 pitches with no walks. "He’s been around the program for three years now and he pitched one heck of a game. And Driggers had a bad day on the field, but then he comes in and has a big hit like that to end the game. It’s exciting."
The Tigers were scheduled to play Glynn Academy Tuesday afternoon.