The Evans Knights baseball team dropped both games of a doubleheader at home against Pope High School in the quarterfinals of the AAAAAA Georgia High School State Playoffs on Monday, May 9.
This loss now knocks the Knights out of the playoffs and ends there 2022 season.
Game one of the doubleheader would be tied 1-1 through two innings. The Greyhounds pushed ahead after three innings after waking in a run and RBI base hit by Cooper Orr, bringing in a run and making the score 4-1.
Evans battled back in the top in the fifth inning with RBI double by Ty McClintock to make the score 4-2. McClintock would score off a wild pitch, pushing the Greyhounds lead to only 4-3.
The game would end up being 5-4 going into the seventh inning. A few errors by the Knights and some base hits for the Greyhounds pushed Pope past Evans by a score of 8-4.
Game Two would be a battle to the very end as it was tied 2-2 through two innings.
Hunter Thompson gave Evans its first lead of the game with a solo homer bouncing off the Knights scoreboard, making the score 3-2 in the top of the third inning. Evans extended the lead to 5-2 in the fourth inning.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Greyhounds’ Cody McGill tied the game 5-5 with a three-run homer.
Lleyton Lackey would come across to score and give the Knights a 6-5 lead in the top of the sixth inning.
After a wild pitch from Evans pitcher Knox Sheppard, the Greyhounds would score and tied the game 6-6 in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Greyhounds went on to add three more runs in the inning and win the game 9-6.
Pope will now advance to play in the Final Four, beginning on May 14. The winner of the semifinal game will advance to the State Championship. Pope lost in the title game in 2019 and has won the title four times in 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2018.
