BY NOAH GRIFFITH
FOR THE OBSERVER
SMITHS STATION — The No. 1-ranked Glenwood School baseball team is headed to its second consecutive 3A state championship after sweeping the semifinal series against No. 8 Lee-Scott Academy on Wednesday, May 13.
The bats stayed scorching hot for the Gators (35-8), and the Warriors (25-12) were not able to keep up.
Glenwood tallied 30 runs among 11 innings in two mercy-rule shortened victories in a doubleheader at The Swamp.
It was all the Gators needed in a 16-0 affair in a five-inning Game 1, and Game 2 was a tighter contest until Glenwood pulled away late with a 14-3 win in six innings.
“I’m really proud of these guys,” said Glenwood head coach Tim Fanning. “I’ve seen so much growth in them over the last month of the season. Just a lot of unselfishness at the plate and really buying into our offensive philosophy.”
Two seniors in particular turned in exceptional performances in the semifinal.
Carter Judah homered in each game, as did Cal Lawrence.
Judah, the leadoff batter, reached base all but once when he grounded out in his final plate appearance, and Lawrence reached all but twice in the doubleheader.
The duo drove in 15 runs combined, capped off by Lawrence’s no-doubt grand slam in the sixth inning of Game 2.
Asher Long, another senior for the Gators, also scored four runs with three RBIs on three hits and two walks on the day.
The ninth hitter in the Gators’ lineup finished his day with a double ripped off the left field wall.
“Asher’s a really good player,” Fanning said. “That’s why Andrew Wilkinson swinging the bat good in the seven hole makes our lineup very tough to defend. We just have to make sure we get production from the seven-eight spots because everybody else has been on point.”
Starting Game 1 on the mound, senior Cooper Favors threw a complete-game shutout.
He pitched all five innings, allowing no runs on three hits, one walk and a hit by pitch with five strikeouts.
“It’s really been a lot of seniors that have stepped up,” Fanning said. “We have a big group, and a lot of them didn’t play a lot last year. Some of those guys, from the get-go, have been really good players all year.”
In Game 1, Favors outdueled Warriors ace Braden Martin, who surrendered six runs on eight hits and was relieved with two outs in the third inning.
A mix of four relievers struggled to find the zone to finish game one, issuing six walks and three hits by pitches in a 10-run fourth inning for Glenwood.
The game ended quickly after the prolonged bottom of the fourth, with Favors retiring the side in the top of the fifth to seal the mercy rule finish.
For Game 2, Fanning turned to sophomore Rhett English.
English outdueled Barrett Cook, who looked strong early on for Lee-Scott before a 12-0 Glenwood run in the last two innings to cap off the series.
For the Warriors, the best moment of the night came in a two-run third inning to give them a 3-2 lead in Game 2.
Cook had just recorded two consecutive scoreless frames on the mound, then he launched a one-out triple off the left-field wall.
Ethan Hardee followed with an RBI single, and then Andrew Owen scored Hardee on a groundout to notch their only lead of the night.
Cook kept the momentum in Lee-Scott’s favor with a scoreless fourth inning, but Glenwood broke through in the fifth with two runs before recording an out to force Cook from the game after throwing more than 100 pitches in four-plus innings.
He allowed five runs — four earned — on four hits, two walks and three strikeouts.
Similar to the first game, four Lee-Scott pitchers struggled while relieving Cook.
Nine Gators crossed the plate on four hits in the sixth inning, and Trey Claridy slammed the door on the Warriors in the sixth with another pair of strikeouts.
He picked up where he left off after striking out the first batter he faced to help Glenwood escape a bases-loaded jam in the fifth.
“I told them after the game, ‘You raised the bar another year,’ and that’s what we’ve got to continue to do,” said Lee-Scott head coach Jarrod Cook. “We need to hold our heads up because we have a lot to be proud of. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the better team; they were just better than us tonight.”
Before the defeat to the Gators, the Warriors swept their first three playoff series, going 6-0 and outscoring their opponents 60-8 in those contests.
Oppositely, Glenwood has now won eight of nine playoff games, outscoring opponents 116-30 in those contests.
The Gators’ sole loss was a 7-6 defeat at Wicksburg High School in the second round, which Fanning characterized as a wake-up call for his squad.
“We gave up four unearned runs in one inning, or we wouldn’t have lost that one,” Fanning said. “There was a lot of time for those seniors to evaluate that we went down [to Wicksburg] a little too overconfident.”
The Gators have back-to-back state titles at stake during the state championship series against No. 3 Gordo High School on May 19-20.
Game 1 was on Tuesday at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, and Games 2 and 3 (if necessary) were on Wednesday at Jacksonville State University.
