The CCA Patriots are off to the semifinals after dispatching the Thomas Jefferson Academy Jaguars of Louisville 18-0 in five innings at Patriot Field Saturday afternoon. Blake Bryant threw three innings of scoreless one-hit baseball and went 1-3 with a triple, three RBI, and two walks. Jonathan Rutland had two hits, two runs scored, and three RBI. Gray McLean doubled, scored three times, drove in one, and walked twice. Landon Williams was 2-3 with a triple, a run scored, and three RBI as well.
CCA scored three in the first, six in the second, five in the third, and four in the fifth. For all practical purposes, it was over after the second inning. The Patriots loaded the bases with no outs then the merry go-round began. Bryant walked, scoring Landon Williams. Sklyer Woods followed with another walk, scoring McLean. Jett Hart hit a sacrifice fly to right that scored Thomas Gentry. Rutland reached on a misplayed fly ball to center, allowing Tyson Crosby to score and give CCA a 7-0 lead. Clay Phillips walked to load the bases again then Jonah Hall was hit by a pitch, scoring Sam Ables and keeping the bases loaded. Williams flew out to center; however, Rutland scored the sixth run of the inning for the Patriots. The inning finally ended with CCA up 9-0.
The Patriots kept rolling in the third and fifth, eventually tallying 18 runs on 10 hits and 12 walks. Bryant left the mound after three innings and just 38 pitches. Gentry and Woods each threw an inning of relief.
The Patriots will host the #5-ranked Westwood School Wildcats from Camilla next week in the semifinals. The Wildcats defeated the #4-ranked David Emanuel Academy Eagles in Stillmore on Friday. That series went the full three games. Vidalia Heritage is the third team to make the semifinals. The Grace Christian-Robert Toombs series had not been decided at the time of this writing.
The dates and times of next week’s series have not been announced. CCA has graduation next Friday night so the teams will have to work around that. All games will be played in Douglas, which does make things a little easier from a scheduling standpoint. DouglasNow will announce the schedule once it is released.