The Swainsboro Tigers will host the Pelham Hornets this Thursday, April 27, in a double header to kick off the state high school baseball playoffs. The #2 seeded Tigers (19-9) have been a hot team, though cooled somewhat last week after losing 2 of 3 to the region champion Bleckley County Royals.
Swainsboro has had a resurgent season and nearly won a region championship if not for an equally plucky Royals team as the regular season culminated with two 9-0 region teams meeting for the region title. Swainsboro won game #1 at home before dropping the final two games of the week, settling for region runner up.
River Greene towed the rubber to start the series against Bleckley County and behind an absolutely filthy curve ball, gave the Royals all they could handle for 6 innings. Still, Swainsboro trailed 3-2 entering their final at bat. Hits from Peyton Mason, Jahari Nobles, and Kason Palmer plated a run and sent the game into extra innings. Palmer and Mason kept the Royals off the scoreboard, pitching the final 3 innings, until Greene singled and advanced to 3rd base on a throwing error. Greene would score the winning run on a wild pitch to walk-off a huge victory for the Tigers, leaving them one win away from a region title.
However, that win would be tough to muster as the Royals capitalized on an error filled game by the Tigers to win 13-1 in game 2. Swainsboro hosted Bleckley County on Friday for the deciding game. Despite a valiant effort from pitcher Kason Palmer, holding the Royals to 4 runs over 7 innings, the Tigers only managed 2 hits and 2 runs in a 4-2 loss.
Swainsboro will host the #3 seed from Region 1A in a best of 3 series, beginning Thursday at Tiger Field.
