Gordon Lee, Charlton County going to game three again [photos]

Split extends semifinal series for Gordon Lee

Gordon Lee 2nd baseman Kobie Cowan (24) takes the throw and prepares to tag out Charlton County's Austin Knowles (11) who was attempted the steal.  The Charlton County Indians visited the Gordon Lee Trojans in the Georgia State Baseball Tournament Semifinals on May 17, 2017.
Gordon Lee 2nd baseman Kobie Cowan (24) takes the throw and prepares to tag out Charlton County's Austin Knowles (11) who was attempted the steal. The Charlton County Indians visited the Gordon Lee Trojans in the Georgia State Baseball Tournament Semifinals on May 17, 2017.

CHICKAMAUGA, Ga. - Given the history between these two high school baseball programs, no one should be surprised the Class A public state semifinal series pitting Charlton County against Gordon Lee is going to a third game.

On Wednesday, the host Trojans rallied from a two-run deficit in the first game to pull out a 4-3 win, but Charlton County used a dominating pitching performance by Jack Gowan to earn a split with a 3-1 win in the second game. The deciding game is at 3 p.m. today, making this the third consecutive postseason meeting between the teams that will go to a third game.

Charlton won the previous two matchups, which came in the 2013 and 2014 championship series.

"You can't write this story any better," Gordon Lee coach Mike Dunfee said. "We're a scrappy team, and they are a scrappy team and I expect another exciting game tomorrow."

In Wednesday's opener, Gordon Lee (27-6) trailed 3-1 before scoring three runs on two hits and one Charlton County mental mistake in the fifth inning. A walk, Noah Peterson's double and Dylan Minghini's sacrifice fly brought the Trojans within one; two batters later, Caleb Hopkins singled in the tying run.

Charlton County coach Thad Marchman elected to walk the bases loaded with one out, then got the groundball he wanted, but instead of going home for the forceout, the Indians threw to first as Austin Thompson scored the go-ahead run.

Charlton County was also its worst enemy in the seventh, with a runner overrunning second base for the first out and, after a single, ending the game on a double play as the runner was already headed for second on a lineout to right field.

The second game was all about Gowan, who scattered seven hits and struck out 13 batters. The game was tied at 1 entering the bottom of the fifth, when Tyler Chesser's one-out double scored the go-ahead run and Mitch Baxter followed with an insurance RBI single.

Gordon Lee had its chances, leaving two runners on in four of the final five innings. In the seventh, Ethan Clark walked and Minghini doubled with two outs to put the tying runner in scoring position, but Gowan struck out Thompson to end the game.

Dunfee will turn to co-ace Ethan Clark to start today's game, giving the coach what he hopes will be an edge.

"The thing is, with our pitching staff, I really don't care who starts," he said. "Whether you can throw two innings, four innings or five innings, they all have their jobs and we feel good about where we are going into tomorrow.

"If we had gotten the lead in the second game, we were going to go with Ethan, but we'll have him tomorrow now."

In other semifinal series involving northwest Georgia teams, Class AAAA's Heritage and Class AAA's Calhoun and Coahulla Creek were swept Wednesday.

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

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