Lance Dockery leads Heritage past Northwest Whitfield in Region 6-AAAA baseball

Hertitage's Lance Dockery (15) holds off on a high pitch.  The Hardaway Hawks visited the Heritage General in GHSA state baseball tournament action on May 10, 2017.
Hertitage's Lance Dockery (15) holds off on a high pitch. The Hardaway Hawks visited the Heritage General in GHSA state baseball tournament action on May 10, 2017.

RINGGOLD, Ga. - After making a game-saving catch in one inning and hitting a walk-off home run in the next, Lance Dockery was understandably all smiles afterward.

Even if he did have a bit of a headache.

Dockery's two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted Heritage to a 6-4 win over Northwest Whitfield on Thursday.

The Generals (8-5, 5-0 Region 6-AAAA) lost a 4-1 lead in the seventh on Hank Bearden's two-out, three-run double, but Dockery saved another run on a diving catch in right field to end the inning.

"That play was good, but it gave me a pretty good headache," Dockery said with a laugh and slight shake of his aching noggin. "It wasn't pretty, but I got there."

He ended it an inning later with a long shot over the fence in left-center field. It was his fifth homer of the season.

"Lance works hard, and it's good to see something good happen like that to him," Heritage coach Eric Beagles said. "He's as hard a worker as we have, so this is no accident. He's a senior and he's a guy who has been in these spots before, so that's what you want in that situation as a coach."

Heritage, which beat the Bruins (5-8, 2-3) on Tuesday with a three-run seventh to overcome a 1-0 deficit, appeared to be coasting to a win Thursday with left-hander Tripp Church in control. However, after six innings of one-run, two-hit pitching with seven strikeouts, he tired and was replaced by Justin Morris to start the seventh.

The Bruins loaded the bases with one out on a single and two walks, but Morris retired Seth Godfrey on a short fly to left. He had a strike on Bearden before the sophomore laced a sinking liner to left-center, where speedy Heritage outfielder Luke Grant dove, only to see the ball tick off the end of his glove and roll to the fence, the game now tied.

"They almost returned the favor on us tonight," Beagles said. "That seventh inning was disappointing, but it's like we tell them, there is seldom a game where you are not going to have deal with adversity, so it's a matter of how you deal with it. It was good to see them answer it like they have."

Heritage had taken a 4-0 lead on Alex Coulter's two-out RBI single in the fourth and a two-run double by Josh Gibson. Brody Campbell followed with another RBI double in the fifth. Church labored a bit in the sixth, allowing a leadoff double to Godfrey, who later scored on a wild pitch.

"Tripp was just being Tripp today," Beagles said. "He battled and gave us all he had, but he just got tired a bit. Morris, who was due to pitch, was just a bit off, but they are a good ballclub and they proved it tonight. We should expect that every time we play them."

Dockery and Gibson had two hits each for the Generals, while Matt Redmond had two of Northwest Whitfield's five hits.

Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.

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