Hall pitches Houston County to championship series

The situation was unexpected, considering how much in control Tanner Hall was.

Suddenly, the Houston County left-hander stood on the mound surrounded by his infielders and head coach.

The bases were loaded, there were two outs, and the No. 7 batter in Gainesville’s lineup was at the plate.

“He wasn’t coming out,” Houston County head coach Jason Brett said of Hall. “What we wanted to do right there is we wanted to make sure that we were all on the same page.”

And check Hall’s demeanor.

“No emotion,” Brett said. “There was no emotion.”

That came moments later when A.J. Smallwood grounded out to shortstop for the final out to finish Houston County’s 2-0 win Tuesday night over Gainesville in the rubber game of their GHSA Class AAAAA semifinal series.

As Tucker Garland’s throw hit the glove of first baseman Jake Fromm, the celebration was on and likely will continue the rest of the week.

Houston County is the home team against either South Effingham or Loganville, whose third game was victim to Tuesday’s weather, in the championship series. Brett expected Saturday’s first game to be at 4 p.m., but that wasn’t official.

Houston County went up 1-0 in the third on Austin Langford’s bunt single, Blake Dawson’s sacrifice and Fromm’s double.

An insurance run came from an unexpected source, Dillon Strickland, as he yanked the first pitch of the fourth inning over the wall in right.

THREE WHO MATTERED

Hall: The senior lefty has signed with Armstrong State, and he increasingly looks like a remarkable steal, Tuesday night only adding to that. He retired 15 straight at one point, had several innings that lasted only two minutes and only allowed a Gainesville runner past second once, in the seventh. Naturally, he led the Bears with two hits.

Dillon Toms: With Lawson Trawick taking a break after catching Monday’s doubleheader, sophomore Toms got the call and kept most low pitches in front of him while helping to keep Hall calm.

Austin Hittinger: It was his diving catch in right field on Jared Smith’s shot to lead off the sixth that kept the Red Elephants off the bases early in the inning and took some life out of the home team. He also had a hit in the fifth.

WORTH MENTIONING

Good timing: Strickland was batting only .147 entering the game, with five singles. His homer was only the Bears’ sixth of the season, and there wasn’t much doubt about it.

Money: Hall had five 1-2-3 innings, remarkable enough against a playoff team but more so on the road in a semifinal Game 3. A whopping 16 of the 26 total batters he faced went down in three pitches or fewer, and he averaged 3.3 pitches per batter.

Dandy defense: Garland’s throwing error in the seventh was fairly excusable, since he dove to make the stop. Otherwise, he had a solid and busy series for the Bears.

A nice road trip: Two years ago, Houston County traveled to Gainesville, won the first game 6-2, lost the second 13-7 and won the third 7-4. Gainesville was in its fourth semifinal in five seasons. The Bears didn’t make the postseason a year ago.

THEY SAID IT

Hall on his overall performance: “The biggest thing for me when I pitch is getting ahead. I usually don’t get hit very hard, but when I walk people ... Getting ahead on strikes is the thing.”

Brett on Hall overall: “That’s a good Game 3 pitcher right there. ... He’s the right person, that’s the guy you want with the baseball in his hands in Game 3 with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning.”

Hall on the seventh-inning meeting: “I just needed to take a deep breath, settle back down. ...”

Strickland on his homer: “I was trying to get on base for my team and start the inning off (well). He threw me an inside fastball. I just went with it.”

Brett on Hall’s efficiency: “The great thing is he managed his pitch count early. His pitch count never got really high. We never had a high-stress inning early, and going into the seventh inning, he had is legs under him and he felt good.”

Hall on confidence: “As I settled down, I started throwing well. It was, ‘I think I got this.’ The fifth and sixth inning, I started cruising there.”

Hall on what worked: “I could spot my fastball. That helped out a lot. When they were thinking curveball, I could spot my fastball.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

Houston County hosts either South Effingham or Loganville in the championship series, starting with Saturday’s doubleheader.

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 9:32 PM with the headline "Hall pitches Houston County to championship series."