SAVANNAH, Ga. - There was one final challenge to meet if Gordon Lee was going to win its first state baseball championship in 34 years Tuesday, and it stood in the form of one of the top Class A pitchers in Georgia.
Like a lot of teams have done against the Trojans this year, Telfair County elected to start its ace, Ian Blankenship, in game two of the best-of-three title series. After Gordon Lee rolled to a five-inning 10-0 win in game one, the stakes rose and Blankenship appeared up to the moment.
However, after mowing through the lineup in four hitless innings and holding a 1-0 lead, the ace finally found his match. Gordon Lee, with consecutive RBI hits from No. 7 hitter Will Sizemore and No. 8 batter Justin Wooden, scored twice in the fifth and five times in the sixth to win 7-1 for the Class A public school title at Historic Grayson Stadium.
"It's an amazing feeling. I'm super proud of the guys," Gordon Lee coach Mike Dunfee said seconds before a cooler full of cold water was dumped on his head. "They are a great group of kids. I don't even know what to say except they deserve all this. It's a long time coming."
Gordon Lee (28-8), which went 8-0 in the playoffs, again rode strong pitching in the title round, getting a five-inning two-hitter from senior Caleb Hopkins and using three pitchers - Mason Pettigrew, Jake Wright and Austin Thompson - to limit Telfair to six hits in game two.
"There's not much more you can say about our pitchers," said catcher Chris Potter, who caught every inning of the postseason. "They filled up the (strike) zone the whole playoffs. They gave up five runs in the entire playoffs, so you can't say anything more than that."
The usually patient Gordon Lee lineup was anything but that in game one against Telfair starter Ryan Dopson, who showed early a propensity for throwing first-pitch fastballs for strikes. After stranding a pair of runners in the first, Gordon Lee sent 12 batters to the plate in the second inning, scoring eight runs on eight hits, several coming on first pitches.
Thompson brought home the game's first run by getting hit by a Hopson pitch with the bases loaded, and Hunter Hodson followed with a fielder's-choice RBI. Dylan Minghini then ambushed Dopson's first pitch with a three-run double to left-center. J.D. Day and Sizemore added run-scoring hits in the huge inning in which Hopson was pulled with two outs.
"We realized he was humming fastballs and we knew we could hit it, so we started swinging early and put a big inning together," said senior Minghini, who was 3-for-3 with three RBIs in game one.
Telfair, riding the momentum provided by pitcher Blankenship's dominating start, had a chance to break open the rematch in the fourth inning. Gordon Lee starter Pettigrew was pulled after allowing a pair of singles to start the fourth. Reliever Wright was greeted by Dopson's RBI single, and Dunfee elected to intentionally walk Trey Bess to load the bases with no one out.
Wright, though, bowed his neck, striking out the next two batters and getting Ramsey Hancock to pop out to short.
"Jake came in and, I believe, won that game for us," Potter said of Wright, who earned the win by going three innings and allowing only the one hit. "It stopped their momentum right in their tracks and turned the game around."
It was still just 2-1, Gordon Lee's favor, in the sixth when Minghini led off with a double and came home one out later on Potter's single. An obviously tiring Blankenship then uncorked a wild pitch, allowing another run, and later balked in a run before Thompson put icing on the inning with a two-run triple.
Thompson, a senior who had thrown two shutouts in the playoffs, then sealed the title with a scoreless seventh.
"Their ace was good," Dunfee said of Blankenship. "We always say work to that third at-bat because then you've seen everything he's got, especially when a guy is shoving it like that. We did that and finally started squaring some things up."
Minghini, one of four seniors who vowed to earn a title after falling one round short a year ago, returned from a knee injury to help lead the postseason run.
"It's amazing, especially going out as a champion in your senior year and when I thought my season was over," he said. "It means even more after getting so close, and for this team to bring it back means a lot."
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296; follow on Twitter @youngsports22.