Indians Advance to Elite Eight with Sweep of Redan

The Stephens County Indians baseball team has advanced to the state AA quarterfinals.

The Indians swept Redan High School in two very tightly contested games 4-2 and 2-1 Thursday night in Stone Mountain.

In game one, an Indians error led to two Raiders runs in the 2nd inning and the Indians were down early.

Stephens County pulled within one in the 3rd inning when Hayden Scott walked, stole 2nd, and scored on Christian Hewitt’s RBI single.

The Indians tied the game in the 4th when Noah Strickland singled and scored on Findley Ward’s RBI single.

In the bottom of the 4th, Redan got the first two batters on but a line drive caught by Indians pitcher Scott turned into a 1-6-3 triple play to end the inning.

The game stayed tied until the top of the 7th inning when Scott led off with a single, Duke Collins sacrifice bunt moved Scott to 2nd, Hewitt walked, and Konnor Loudermilk and Tyler Zigan had back to back RBI hits. The Indians thought they had added another run but an interference call at 2nd base ended the inning.

In the bottom of the 7th, the Raiders loaded the bases on three walks, but Loudermilk got the final two outs on a strikeout and groundout to secure the win.

Scott pitched 6 and 1/3 strong innings allowing just one earned run on five hits to get the win with Loudermilk picking up the save. Redan’s Antoine Holloway pitched into the 7th inning but suffered the loss.

Game two saw another strong pitching battle with the Indians Loudermilk and Raiders Matthew Evans shutting each offense down.

Holloway had 3 of the Raiders 4 hits and scored their only run in the 5th inning on Kross Redden’s fielders choice RBI.

The Indians trailed 1-0 and were down to the final strike in the bottom of the 7th inning, but Zigan delivered a huge double to score Hewitt to tie the score.

Both teams battled in two extra innings with Loudermilk pitching a fantastic 8 innings allowing only 3 hits and no earned runs. Ward pitched the 9th inning, and with two men on and no outs, made an incredible diving catch on a bunt attempt to complete a double play.

In the bottom of the 9th, Scott led off with a walk, Collins sacrifice bunt moved him to 2nd, and Hewitt delivered a game winning RBI to right field scoring Scott.

Evans pitched 8 innings with no earned runs on 6 hits while striking out 11. Moxie McNeely pitched the 9th inning and suffered the loss. Ward picked up the win in his inning of work.

Stephens County improves to 23-9 on the season and advances to the first “Elite Eight” since 2017.

The Indians will make the short trip to Carnesville to face Franklin County with a trip to the final four on the line. The Lions outscored Burke County 23-0 to sweep that series. The Indians took 2 of 3 from the Lions in the regular season. The two teams will play a doubleheader next Wednesday with a game on Thursday if needed.

Elsewhere in the AA state playoffs, Hart County was swept at Appling County, Morgan County took two from Ringgold, Rockmart swept Pike County, Callaway swept Drew Charter, Columbus and Crisp County split, and Pierce County took game one over Cook.

Earlier in the week, Habersham Central advanced to the final 8 in 5A play taking 2 of 3 at South Paulding.