CHICKAMAUGA, Ga. — As much as Mike Dunfee wanted to cut out the noise surrounding a sports rematch with Worth County on Thursday, the Gordon Lee baseball coach admitted after his team won 8-0 and 5-0 to sweep a best-of-three series in the GHSA Class A Division I semifinals that it was a difficult task.
The Rams eliminated the Trojans when they visited Sylvester in the quarterfinal round of the football playoffs in late November, ending the school’s best season in that sport in 25 years.
Revenge, led by 14 scoreless innings from Maddox Millard, Dustin Day and Kaden Ellis, was exacted in front of an enthusiastic Gordon Lee home crowd.
The top-seeded Trojans (36-2) are tentatively scheduled to play No. 7 seed Vidalia at Synovus Park in Columbus in the best-of-three championship series next week, starting with a doubleheader on Saturday, May 23 (both schools are holding graduation ceremonies the day before). If game three is needed, it would be held the following Monday, which is Memorial Day.
Vidalia (29-10) advanced by sweeping at No. 6 Bleckley County on Thursday.
“That was a big thing,” Dunfee said of the talk about the baseball series serving a chance for athletic payback. “Revenge is a scary thing, so I told them not to think about the football game. It’s a cherry on top if you do win, but don’t let that be the focal point. They were amped up a little bit, though, for certain. Heck, the whole school was excited about it when the bracket first came out, but I told everybody not to look ahead.”
Gordon Lee vs. Worth County baseball on May 14, 2026
Millard improved to 12-0 with a five hitter in game one, his 11th scoreless outing of the season. Day went 5 1/3 scoreless innings in game two, with closer Kaden Ellis getting the final five outs — all on strikeouts.
(READ MORE: Gordon Lee reaches GHSA baseball semis; Coahulla Creek girls make history)
“Maddox did what he does, and it was awesome to see in game one,” Dunfee said. “Dustin is going up and up. He’s gained confidence in himself, and he’s starting to get the feel. Kaden then came in and shut the door. It’s fun to watch them. They compete out there, and I’ve never seen anything phase them.”
Millard’s lone stressful inning was the first, when Avery Kilcrease led off with a double. A sacrifice bunt moved courtesy runner Obie Johnson to third, but Millard struck out the next batter, and Johnson was thrown out trying to score on a nice play by catcher J.R. Zeimet after a pitch eluded the senior.
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The fourth-seeded Rams (28-10) would put only one more runner in scoring position.
After getting one hit in the first two innings against Kilcrease, the Trojans woke up their bats by being patient in the third inning. Braxton Daniel and Colt Wood led off the inning with walks, with Brady Little plating one run with a double and two more coming in on Peyton Groce’s single and Zeimet’s sacrifice fly.
Though Millard didn’t need any more runs, the Trojans added one in the fifth and four in the sixth, two scoring on Millard’s two-out single.
In game two, Garrett Ross got things going offensively with a solo homer in the second, with Groce adding the first of his two RBI singles in the third to make it 2-0. The senior went 3-for-3 in game two and ended the day with five RBIs and three runs scored.
A change to a newer bat, Gordon Lee’s coach said, helped spark the outburst from Ross, who was also a star for the football team.
“He had a lot of big-time RBIs today,” Dunfee said. “We got him swinging one of the newer bats. He was swinging one that was five or six years old, and when he hit, it would barely get to the outfield. Today, he fisted one and it went to the wall, and he just had good at-bats all day.
“Our pitchers did great today and our bats woke up some, but our defense is also really playing well. Worth had some chances to score, and a couple of times I would have been happy to give up one run and get out of it, but our guys just don’t want to give up anything and they went after it. Colt Wood and Kaden Ellis made some great plays out there, and the whole team just took care of business.”
Calhoun swept in semifinals
Despite leading in both games, second-seeded Calhoun was eliminated Thursday in a Class AAA semifinal series at home as third-seeded Pickens won 4-2 and 11-5.
The Yellow Jackets (31-8) were their own worst enemy with four errors in each game and 13 total walks issued by their pitchers, including 10 in game two when Calhoun had seven hits to just three for Pickens (35-3). Calhoun pitchers also hit five batters in the second game.
Hudson Chadwick’s two-run homer off Pickens ace A.J. Rice gave Calhoun a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third inning. The lead held until Rice’s solo homer in the sixth off Rocco Baxter tied the game.
One out later, Christian Starks put Pickens ahead 3-2 with a homer to left-center, with the lead growing to two runs in the seventh when an error preceded Kam Jenkins’ RBI double. Calhoun had two on and one out in the seventh, but Rice got the next two outs to secure the opening win.
Rice allowed three hits and struck out 13 batters, with Baxter also going the distance and allowing two earned runs while striking out five.
Calhoun led 3-0 in game two after Ryder Hood’s two-run single in the first inning and Matthew Zander’s RBI double in the second, but things soon fell apart for the Yellow Jackets, who were playing as the visitors.
Two walks and two hit batters plated one run for Pickens in the bottom of the second, then five more scored in the third on one hit (Robert Turner’s two-run double), three walks, two stolen bases and two errors.
The 5-3 lead became 10-3 after Pickens scored five more in the fifth inning on four walks, two hit batters, an error and Starks’ two-run double.
Zander had three hits and knocked in two runs for Calhoun, with Stewart adding two hits, an RBI and a run.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com.