ATHENS, Ga. — The Eastside Eagles swept the season series over the Clarke Central Gladiators last week in Region 8-AAAAA play. After a clutch two-run single from Brayson Osborn gave the Eagles the 6-4 win in game one on Wednesday, Eastside won in a 15-2 rout on Friday, March 15.
Going into the matchup
Prior to the series with the Gladiators, the Eagles swept the series over Jasper County with wins of 10-5 and 8-1, respectively.
However, Eastside found itslef on the receiving end of a sweep with losses to Loganville by 2-1 and 8-0, respectively.
Clarke Central entered the series on a losing skid. Prior to their matchup with the Eagles, the Gladiators were 2-9 on the season.
Osborn delivers in game one
The Eagles held the lead for the majority of the contest, but Clarke Central tied the game with a three-run, sixth inning.
A wild pitch, followed by a sacrifice fly and a passed ball allowed the Gladiators to bring three runners across to force the tie.
With Clarke Central holding newfound momentum, it still did not stop Eastside from taking it right away in the ensuing frame.
The bottom of the sixth inning started with a single from Chase Jordan. Two batters later, the Gladiators intentionally walked Blake Hughes, who already had three hits in the contest.
Following the walk, Colton FIncher delivered a one-out knock into right field to advance the runners and load the bases with just one out.
With the bases juiced, Osborn delivered the line drive into right field to score the go-ahead runs.
Landon Black closed the game out in the top of the seventh inning to secure the 6-4 win for Eastside.
The game got off to a slow start for both squads.
After a scoreless two innings to open the contest, Eastside got on the board in the third inning.
A single from Dawson Petree scored Hughes to give the Eagles the advantage. In the next at-bat, Isaiah Biggers shot the ball back through the middle for a single, which scored Will Russell.
Eastside added one more run in the third inning on a RBI triple down the right field line from Hughes. The three-bagger from Hughes gave the Eagles a 3-0 lead.
In the sixth inning, Eastside added its fourth run on a RBI groundout from Biggers.
The Gladiators did not reach the scoreboard until the fifth frame.
An RBI groundout gave Clarke Central its first run, which brought the team close enough to tie the game in the sixth.
Eagles rout the Gladiators in Athens
After pulling the close win away on their home field, the Eagles’ lineup got hot when they went on the road to play Clarke Central.
Though Eastside won the contest by 13 runs, the bulk of the damage did not happen until the sixth inning.
Going into the sixth frame with a 7-2 lead, Jordan got the Eagles started with a leadoff single. Jordan’s no-out knock was followed by Payton Shaw, who reached base on a fielder’s choice mishap from Clarke Central.
Two batters later, Hughes drove both runners in on a two-run single. Later in the frame, Petree delivered with a two-run single of his own to give Eastside a 11-2 lead.
A single from Eli Christian allowed two runners to score on an error from the Gladiators outfielder. After the error, Braydon Smith scored another Eastside run on a single.
The final run of the day came off the bat of Shaw, who singled to score Smith.
Eastside began its scoring in the second inning after an error in the field allowed Fincher to score off a line drive from Osborn. Petree followed with a run-scoring sacrifice fly to give the Eagles a 2-0 advantage.
In the third and fourth innings, Eastside moved five runs across home on hits from Hughes, Fincher, Jordan and Brandon Ellis.
Clarke Central’s only runs in the contest came as a result of Eastside miscues. In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Gladiators scored two runs on a pair of passed balls.
The wins over Clark Central moved the Eagles to 7-8 on the season with a 2-2 record in Region 8-AAAAA play. Eastside began another region series against the Flowery Branch Falcons on Monday, March 18.
