( Editor's

note: All Thursday games were played after this edition went to

press. Results will be posted Friday morning at www.thecitizennews.com

as soon as they are available. )

The McIntosh

Chiefs baseball team staved off elimination Wednesday night and went into

yesterday's Game 3 of the Colquitt County series looking to move into

the AAAAA state quarterfinals.

After losing

10-0 in the first game of a doubleheader, the Chiefs fell behind 6-1 in

the second game before roaring back with a 10-run sixth inning to take

the nightcap 11-6 and force the extra game.

"The scouting

reports were right [about Colquitt County]," said McIntosh head coach

Toby Black. "They're a good offensive team."

Colquitt County

needed only eight hits in the first game, even though McIntosh only made

two errors and starter Drew Grant pitched fairly well. "They got

timely hitting, and they hit it hard," said Black. "They got

at least three doubles down the line at third base."

The battery

got the job done for Colquitt County, with a left-handed pitcher keeping

the Chiefs' hitters off balance and a catcher who clobbered two homers,

driving in four runs. McIntosh managed four hits in the game.

Colquitt County

threw another lefthander at the Chiefs in the nightcap and picked up four

runs in the first inning off McIntosh starter John King. They got one

more run off King and a run off reliever Tim Battle before the Chiefs'

10-run explosion. Since McIntosh was the home team in Game 2, there was

no need to bat in the seventh.

Aside from

just winning the game, McIntosh got additional dividends that could pay

off in Game 3, as Colquitt County's pitchers were forced to work extra

hard during the lengthy sixth-inning parade of runs.

"We tried

all night to get deep into their pitching staff, and we finally did,"

said Black, noting that two different pitchers for Colquitt County threw

a lot of pitches in Game 2.

Meanwhile,

Black planned to start Ryan Schwartz in Game 3, after he only pitched

two innings in Wednesday's first game. Black said that he felt comfortable

with the arms he had left going into the final game compared to what Colquitt

County had to use Wednesday.

In other action

relating to local teams, East Coweta advanced to the AAAAA quarterfinals

with a sweep of Lee County, winning 8-6 and 4-0.

Also in AAAAA,

Fayette County lost its first game Wednesday to Eagle's Landing 7-2, and

the second game was washed out. A doubleheader was scheduled for yesterday.

In AAAA, Sandy

Creek split with Crisp County, losing 9-3 in the first game and winning

9-8 in the second game. Game 3 was scheduled for yesterday.

The results

were similar for Landmark in the A bracket, with a 2-0 loss followed by

a 5-4 win over Temple, forcing a third game yesterday.

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