THOMASVILLE — In its home opener, Thomasville’s baseball team struggled for the first six innings of the game, unable to keep runners off base or get its own runners on.

But high school baseball lasts for seven innings, and the Bulldogs milked everything they could out of their last three outs.

Down 8-1 at one point and 8-3 going into their last chance, the Bulldogs pulled out their first victory of the year with a six-run seventh that ended with a walk-off triple from Harrison Stewart, leading to a stunning 9-8 win over Upson-Lee Friday night. 

After Jared Smith flew out to center field to start the bottom half of the seventh, Thomasville was down to their last two outs with five runs to make up. The Bulldogs’ decisive rally began with a spark — a misplayed popup off the bat of Hayden Donalson. Jimmy Cipriani kept Thomasville’s hopes alive in the next at-bat with a single, and JT Rice followed that up with a walk to load the bases.

Then something improbable happened.

In the next at-bat, Parker Zolt drove a deep fly ball to right which appeared to clear the fence for a grand slam, but was ruled a ground-rule double due to a quirk — a small, baseball-sized gap in the wall, which, of course, the ball went through.

“We’ve been playing on this field since 2000 and that’s the third time I’ve seen that happen,” Thomasville baseball coach Erik McDougald said. “It had to land absolutely perfectly for that to happen. Might want to play the lottery tonight.”

That play still scored two for the Bulldogs, though, who had cut the lead to 8-5. With Zolt at second and Rice at third, Buck Bennett stepped to the plate, but he was intentionally walked for Zeb Maxwell, who struck out.

With Thomasville one out from defeat with the bases loaded, Stewart, a freshman, stepped in. With a well-hit line drive to left, he delivered with a triple, giving Thomasville the improbable win. 

“Coach told me to move up in the box,” he said. “I got the curveball and I just drove it.”

“I was telling our guys, even at 8-1, that we were more than capable offensively,” McDougald said. “We kind of hang our hat on our offense. We won the game, but I wouldn’t say we deserved to win the game. It’s exciting one way or another — not always pretty but exciting nonetheless.”

It wasn’t always exciting for the Bulldogs. For the majority of the game, Thomasville’s pitchers didn’t allow many hits, but struggled with control. Too many runners were being given free passes to first — either by a walk or by hitting batters — and the Knights would move up the base paths with wild pitch after wild pitch. 

“The frustrating part of it was we gave them so many opportunities,” McDougald said. “We struggled on the mound tonight, that’s obvious.”

Scoring took a while to come around as well. Thomasville scored one in the first with an RBI groundout from Rice to score Donalson to tie the game at 1-1, but Upson-Lee scored seven unanswered runs in the next three frames. The Bulldogs ended their dry spell in the fifth and sixth, scoring one in each by way of a sacrifice fly from Donalson and a ground out from Maylon Cochran.

Despite the exciting comeback win, Thomasville’s coach sees a lot that his team has to improve going forward. 

“Long term, what we’re looking for — that’s not what we want to do to be successful,” McDougald said. “It’s early and our pitchers have a lot to learn. Tonight was one of those learning experiences.”