THOMASVILLE – The Bulldogs trip to Brantley County wasn’t a complete loss but it isn’t a series that Thomasville will remember fondly. The Bulldogs faced their region foe last week and dropped the first two game of a three-game set, before picking up a much-needed win in the final matchup. 

Game one was a low scoring affair despite 13 hits between the Bulldogs and the Herons. Preston Deutsch got the start for the Bulldogs and pitched well, going seven innings and allowing six hits with five strikeouts. He allowed just a single run to Brantley. 

It was a battle of wills as the Herons struck first, taking a 1-0 lead in the third. With the game on the line in the bottom of the seventh Kiff Parish, who has been excellent for the Bulldogs this year, stepped up and sent a line drive into left field for an RBI single to tie the game at one and send it into extras. 

Thomasville senior Jay Harrison took over on the bump for the Bulldogs in the eighth. In an inning that saw Harrison face four batters, Brantley knocked in a run to take a 2-1 lead that they would not relinquish. The Herons took game one of the series. 

Game two was just as close as the first. Thomasville took an early lead off a Jasper Davis RBI single in the first and a hit by pitch that walked Davis home in the third for a 2-0 lead. 

Harrison had the Bump for the Bulldogs, and it was a difficult day for the Thomasville senior. He gave up seven hits in six innings, with six K’s and three walks. He was also credited with four errors. 

The difficulty started in the third when Brantley tied it up on an RBI double. Harrison would make up for it by helping Thomasville regain the lead in the fourth. First a single by Pelt scored Parrish, then patience by Harrison forced a walked to score another run.  

However, the lead wouldn’t last long as Brantley tied it up in the bottom of the fourth off a triple. 

A sac fly in the bottom of the fifth would score the go ahead run for Brantley and that was all she wrote as Thomasville couldn’t get another run across. 

The Bulldog’s last chance to salvage the series came in game three and they took full advantage. They stomped the Herons 9-0, racking up 14 hits to Brantley’s four. David Chastain, Pelt, Trip Gebel, Davis, and Bradley Vanlerberghe each had two hits in the game and seven RBIs between them. Gebel led all players with four RBIs in the game. 

Ben McDougald had one of the best starts of his career. He pitched a complete game and only allowed four hits. He recorded eight Ks with 0 walks and 0 errors. 

The much-needed win gives the Bulldogs their seventh of the year and leaves Thomasville at 7-17 on the season. They are 3-9 in region play. Thomasville has six more region games before the end of the regular season, a three-game set first against Berrien and lastly against Worth County.