EMERSON, Ga. – The Georgia Jackets and the Georgia Giants were locked in an early pitching duel in the rain at LakePoint Park in the 18U Perfect Game – East Cobb Invitational. Extra innings would be needed to decide each team’s fate in round one of the playoffs, as the game was tied at 3-3 through seven. The Giants, though, would come out on top 4-3 in eight innings.
“[They’ve shown] a lot of grit,” said Frank Fultz, head coach of the Giants. “We don’t have all the great players that some of these teams have, yet we continue to compete, so I’m real proud of what they’ve done.”
Both pitchers had their stuff working early, matching each other pitch-for-pitch through the game’s first three innings. Hank Flood started for the Giants, throwing 6 1/3 innings, yielding two earned runs and only two hits.
“I felt like I had good control of my fastball today,” Flood said. “I was able to spot up with that, and that was pretty much key in my success. I was trying to get ahead in counts, trying not to fall behind so that I could make my pitches instead of pitching to them.”
Flood featured a fastball ranging from 84-87 mph and a breaking ball at 72-73 that he consistently threw for strikes.
“He can command his off-speed pitches really well,” Fultz said. “He’s got three pitches and is able to throw strikes on all three, so he constantly can keep those hitters guessing.”
JC Sewell started for the Jackets, going three-plus innings, while surrendering two earned runs on five hits. The lefthanded pitcher sat at 81-83 mph with his fastball, but would leave the game in the fourth with an injury. Jay Hinshaw came in behind Sewell, throwing 4 2/3 innings, giving up two hits and two runs.
Offensively, Travis Sands would put the Giants on the board first in the bottom of the fourth inning. The inning began with a leadoff double by Dominic Stephens and a single by Andrew Hayes. That brought Sands, a Georgia Highlands commit, to the plate, who then rifled a line drive double to right field to plate two runs.
“That was huge,” Flood said. “It’s way easier to pitch with the lead, than pitching with a tie game. You can pitch looser and focus more on pitching instead of worrying about the game.”
The Jackets would threaten with a run of their own in the top of the sixth inning, when Ben Gobbel blooped a two out single to left field to score Kohl Nguyen, who had reached on an error. In the bottom half of the inning, Pat Pitzer would tack on an insurance run for the Giants to push the score to 3-1.
Things would become interesting in the top of the seventh inning. With the score 3-1, Flood retired the first hitter, but then walked the second hitter of the inning. After a pitching change, two straight hitters reached before Travis Huffman retired Reagan Shu on a pop out. The next two hitters would walk, tying the game at 3-3.
The game moved to extra innings, and it was an eighth inning walkoff fielder’s choice by Sands that would secure the win for the Giants, advancing them to the quarterfinals of the playoffs. Sands would finish the game 1-for-3 with three RBIs.
“[My mindset was] just the same it always is: attack the fastball,” Sands said. “We all have the same mindset, just attack the fastball early in the count.”
Through the Giants’ first four games, their pitching staff has allowed only six runs. Coming into the game, they had allowed only three runs over three games, which included a shutout of Fierce Baseball on Saturday.
“These guys are quality starters, and they’re really good competitors,” Fultz said. “They realize that our offense hasn’t been as good as it could be, so they keep us in the game by just making good pitches with runners in scoring position.”
Fultz’s squad has also been getting the job done at the plate, having scored 25 runs over four games in this tournament. Four runs were their fewest scored so far in a single game this tournament, but it was still enough to earn them the victory.
“We’re a team that’s geared towards hitting a fastball. We’ve got a lot of clutch hitters in our lineup, and we’ve come through in many situations with two outs,” Fultz said.
The team will play Nelson Baseball School 17u Black in the quarterfinals of the tournament at 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 4. Fultz said that he is looking for his players to continue to compete just as they have so far in the tournament.
“I hope that we can get into this next round and compete,” Fultz said. “Last week were in it and got eliminated, so hopefully we can get to the final four this time.”