Houston County tops Columbus in dramatic fashion

The participants may not forget the two games for a long while, while at the same time struggling to remember exactly what happened.

Columbus and Houston County combined a month's worth of occasionally freakish baseball into their GHSA Class AAAAA baseball playoff series Tuesday at the Bears Den.

By the time it was over, nearly six hours after it began, Houston County had come back from two down to win the opener 5-4 on a walk-off hit by Austin Hittinger to the shadow of the center field wall and had come back from four down in the seventh to force extra innings and win the nightcap 8-7.

By the time it was done, Tyler Flewellyn had pitched in relief in both games, entering each time under pressure-filled circumstances. Chandler Ring, who hadn't pitched in several weeks, threw the seventh inning of the second game for the Bears and survived a huge call that turned a game-ending pitch by him into an inning-ending fly ball seconds later.

That was the hit batter with the bases loaded that wasn't a hit batter, because the Columbus hitter was ruled to have not done enough to avoid the pitch.

Houston County went from two up to two down in the first game, and scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh, two coming on Tanner Hall's single to set up Hittinger.

The Bears went from a two-run deficit to tied in the second game, gave up four runs in the sixth -- and it could've been worse -- and then scored four runs in the seventh.

Houston County outhit Columbus 22-13, and survived by the laces on the baseball.

Along the way, there was a wild throw on a dropped third strike that led to two Houston County runs in the second-game's seventh. There were eight Columbus batters hit by Bears' pitchers. The teams combined for five errors in the second game.

A Houston County pinch-hitter, transfer from Rhode Island Ryan Milton, with barely more than a dozen at-bats this season came up with a two-run high-chopped grounder that, in baseball terms, ate up shortstop Dawson Weaver in that big second-game seventh, right after a run scored when a throw to first on a dropped third strike was wild.

With two outs.

Columbus will try to figure out how it led 4-3 entering the final inning of the first game and lost, and led 7-3 entering the seventh inning of the second game and lost.

Houston County will only celebrate all that.

SIX WHO MATTERED

Flewellyn: With all sorts of pitching decisions to consider in an elimination series, Flewellyn a came in under mighty stressful circumstances – bases loaded and down two – in the opener's sixth inning and got out of it, and then escaped trouble after getting two outs in the seventh. He also scored the tying run in the sixth inning of the nightcap as a courtesy runner. He pitched in the second game as well, coming in the sixth, down 4-3, and did give up a run.

D.L. Hall: The lefty outfielder went 2-for-4 with two runs in the opener and 3-for-4 in the second game. He pitched four innings in the second game, with five strikeouts and five walks.

Hittinger: In addition to the game-winner in the first game, he had a hit in the second and scored three times, including in the Bears' huge seventh.

Jake Fromm: The junior has been in something of a postseason slump, but went 3-for-3 in the opener, including battling for a walk in the big seventh. He added a hit and run in the nightcap.

Austin Foster: The Columbus center fielder almost had a candidate for play of the year on the first-game game-winning hit – picture Jim Edmonds running to the wall and diving for a catch - but was quite solid on a busy day.

Jonathan Brand: The Blue Devils' second-game start was gutsy, throwing 121 pitches in 6-2/3 innings, and hanging tough until things went crazy everywhere but on the mound in the Houston County seventh.

OBSERVATIONS

Uneven evening: While a few Bears had good days at the plate overall, Columbus couldn't get any batter going in both games. Jack Copley and Gage Dempsey had two hits each in the first game, but teamed to go 1-for-7 in the second game. Cason Greathouse had a hit in each game and went 2-for-5.

Pitcher's duel? Yes: In the opener, Tony Locey and Greathouse all but matched each other. Greathouse threw one more pitch, 93, but he lasted a little longer, into the seventh. Greathouse fanned five and walked two while Locey struck out eight with no walks. But there were other issues for Locey.

Pitcher's duel? No: For all of the low scoring much of the night, only three times did a lineup go down in order. Columbus was retired in order twice in the first game, which almost didn't matter. But the timeliness of the third time was huge. Tanner Hall needed only 11 pitches to finish off the Blue Devils in the bottom of the eighth. And in the second game, Houston County pitchers walked three more batters than they struck out, Columbus walking seven and striking out eight Bears.

WORTH MENTIONING

Ouch: Locey hit four batters – a frustrating postseason theme for the Georgia-bound pitcher – and Flewellyn one. But the Bears survived, thanks to the irony of neither pitcher walking a Columbus batter. Locey fanned eight. In the nightcap, D.L. Hall, Dillon Strickland and Ring all plunked a Blue Devil.

Nice comeback: Tanner Hall left temporarily after hurting his shoulder early on when the first baseman was whipped around by a runner while reaching for a throw from Fromm in the first inning of the second game. Jordan Hampton came in and handled things defensively for a few innings until Hall returned. Hall then pitched the seventh and was money for the save for Ring.

Numbers: Houston County stranded 15 batters, Columbus 21. ... There were seven runs scored in the two sets of seventh innings.

A tough out: The Bears opened the Region 2-AAAAA playoffs with wins of 10 runs and 14 runs. Since then, Houston County is 8-1, with only one game -- the 11-1 win last round over Cambridge -- decided by more than three runs. The Bears are 4-0 in one-run playoff games.

Don't forget: Strickland had only one hit in two games, but it was big, a liner to left in the top of the eighth to score Dawson with the lead run.

THEY SAID IT

Houston County head coach Jason Brett: "What? I don't know what to say. I, that was, I'm not really sure. ... Look at that. I ain't never had a lineup card look like that. It's ridiculous."

Milton on his big hit, ruled an error: "The plan was just to get the runs in any way possible. Do whatever I gotta do. Battle."

Brett on expecting Milton to come through: "We talked (Monday) actually about pinch-hit at-bats, and how to handle it. I kinda felt comfortable with him going up there, that he was going to get the job done. He took a good hack on the first swing, and then he got the job done."

Brett on the intensity, although the teams don't have much history: "There's some carryover from Little League stuff, Columbus and Warner Robins. And Locey transferred from Columbus (Hardaway), so there's some knowledge there."

Milton on watching the tying run come in on his grounder: "I would never have imagined (two runs scoring). I figured I could beat it out. I saw the second run score. I was about to go to second, but I didn't want to chance it."

Brett on Columbus' offense: "That's the hardest pitch-calling I've ever had to make. They were on everything we threw. They fought off everything we tried to do. I think that's a scrappy bunch."

WHAT'S NEXT

Houston County plays the winner of Dalton and Gainesville, who play game 3 on Wednesday. Houston County would host Dalton, and engage in a coin flip with Gainesville.

This story was originally published May 10, 2016 at 10:06 PM with the headline "Houston County tops Columbus in dramatic fashion."