Sweet Water starter Sasha Smith didn’t make it a full five innings, but coach John Gluschick's pitching plan.
“We tell him 12 outs," Gluschick said. "That’s what he strives for and sometimes he goes more and that’s a bonus for us. We got a good pitching staff and we have arms come in fresh like (Chance) Broussard who came in and shut the door. We’ve done it every series.”
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Sasha Smith must have caught what Jonah Smith, his brother had in Wednesday's shutout, in leading the Bulldogs (29-9) to a 6-4 victory over Spring Garden (26-11) and a sweep in the Class 1A championship series.
The top-ranked Bulldogs led 1-0 before freshman Luke Davis' a three-RBI double in the top half of the fourth inning.
Spring Garden scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut Sweet Water's lead to 6-4, but a double play in the sixth ended the Panthers' threat.
Smith got the win for Sweet Water, allowing four runs on two hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Weston Kirk took the loss for the Panthers with no walks or strikeouts in a complete game.
View on YouTubeStat sheet: Sweet Water’s Davis went 2-for-3 with a three-RBI double and a run scored in the fourth inning. Trenton Sams went 1-for-3 with RBIs in back-to-back innings and Shamar Lewis was 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and two runs scored. Chance Broussard got the save on the mound for the Bulldogs and also went 2-for-2.
The Panthers did their damage in the fourth inning on a three-RBI double from Luke Welsh. Riley Austin, Weston Kirk and Austin Slayton recorded Spring Garden’s other three hits and Kirk went the distance in the loss with all six runs against the Panthers unearned.
By the numbers: 10, state titles won by Sweet Water. They sit five behind G.W. Long’s 15 state titles. … 9, hits by the Bulldogs. … 0, number of walks and strikeouts issued by Spring Garden.
Coachspeak: “I just got a great group of kids. They fight. This started three years ago and we’ve just carried it over. Hardest thing to do is repeat as state champions and I got some guys who have some guts, they played hard day-in and day-out and our schedule was tough. I love these and I’d to go to war with these guys any day of the week.” – Gluschick
“We knew coming in that Sweet Water had a solid team from 1 through 9. I thought our kids were in a good spot coming in this morning and had a good attitude. They’ve had fight in them all year and fought right there at the end in what I thought might be one of those runs we’ve been making the past few weeks. We bobbled a few today, had a great day on the mound and couldn’t ask for anything better. But hey, it’s baseball.” – Spring Garden coach Barrett Ragsdale
He said it: “We’ve done something that teams haven’t done in awhile and that’s go back-to-back titles. And we won one in football so that’s three for us in the past two years. I think we’re leaving a big legacy and something for the younger guys to aspire to coming up.” – Sweet Water's Jonah Smith
This post will be updated.
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