Staff Photo: Benjamin Hager Brookwood center fielder Ryan Lewis (7) slides safely under the tag of East Coweta third baseman Matt Hill, left, Thursday in Sharpesburg.
Staff Photo: Benjamin Hager Brookwood advanced to the state Class-AAAAA semifinals Thursday in Sharpesburg with a 14-3 victory over East Coweta.
State baseball
Semifinals
Monday's games (all doubleheaders)
Class AAAAA
5 p.m. - North Cobb at Brookwood
Class AA
4 p.m. - Wesleyan at North Oconee
Class A
3 p.m. - Providence at Pacelli
Tuesday's
if-necessary games
Class AAAAA
6 p.m. - North Cobb at Brookwood
Class AA
4 p.m. - Wesleyan at North Oconee
Class A
1 p.m. - Providence at Pacelli
Worth waiting Broncos sweep East Coweta, host N. Cobb
SHARPSBURG - The rain that wiped out the first attempt at Game 2 of Brookwood's Class AAAAA state baseball quarterfinal series against East Coweta was seen at the time as a bad break.
However, Matt Adams turned that initial misfortune into a blessing in disguise on the second try at the second game of the best-of-three series.
The junior left-hander got through a rough first inning to pitch a complete game and limited the host Indians to just three hits, while the top-ranked Broncos pounded out 14 to roll to a 12-2 victory and sweep the series.
The win puts Brookwood (30-3) into the state semifinals for the second straight season. The Broncos will play host to North Cobb in a best-of-three series beginning with a doubleheader Monday at the Dave Hunter Complex.
Broncos coach Rick Howard elected to give the ball to Adams (7-0) instead of bringing back Matt Beebe, who had thrown roughly 20 pitches before Game 2 was halted by weather Tuesday.
"We felt like (the move) would give Alex more time between starts, and it was a great opportunity for Matt to throw," Howard said. "I'm very proud of him."
Adams gave Howard every reason to be proud of him, though he had trouble with the first three hitters.
A leadoff walk to Josh Shiver was followed by a fielder's choice on a failed sacrifice attempt by Seth Newton, which brought Felton James to the plate.
The East Coweta shortstop then rocketed a hanging change-up from Adams over the fence in right-center for his sixth home run of the season, and gave the Indians (16-16) a quick 2-0 lead.
"I guess I came in a little overconfident," Adams said. "But (Howard) told me to throw strikes and I was able to settle down and get into a rhythm."
The 6-foot, 175-pounder quickly found his rhythm and retired 17 of the next 20 batters he faced, giving up harmless singles to Carson Bedrosian and Kenny Reeves and hitting Shiver while recording seven strikeouts over six innings.
Of course, the Broncos' offense helped Adams settle down, especially after Ronnie Freeman tied the game 2-2 with his two-run homer in the second - making up for the first-inning bomb he'd lost with Tuesday's rainout.
Freeman then gave Brookwood a 3-2 lead with his RBI single the next inning, which set the stage for a strange play that may have opened the floodgates.
With the bases loaded and nobody out, Buddy Jones sent a low liner toward a drawn in East Coweta infield.
James dove and got a piece of it, but couldn't hang on. Courtesy runner Wade Brogdon froze and dove back to second, thinking the ball had been caught. James then tagged the bag at second, tagged Brogdon and then threw to first, where Bedrosian tagged Chase Hawkins, who had begun the play at first.
However, after a conference, the umpiring crew ruled James had tagged the bag before tagging Brogdon, removing the force play and allowing him to safely return to second.
So, instead of getting at least two and perhaps three outs on the play, the Indians got only the force on Hawkins at second, while Seth Adkins had raced home to extend Brookwood's lead to 4-2.
"It was a very confusing play," Indians coach Franklin DeLoach said. "We had a chance to get a double play, but we didn't."
Grayson Flack then followed with an RBI single and the Broncos' lead was 5-2.
Brookwood then added two more runs each in the fourth and fifth and then struck for three more in the sixth, with Ross Heffley's RBI single ending the game on the 10-run rule.
"We didn't have the big home runs like we have (in other postseason games), but we put consecutive hits together," Howard said after his team's second-straight 14-hit outburst. "And we took advantage of some opportunities (East Coweta) gave us."
Brookwood got production throughout the lineup Thursday, with Hawkins finishing a perfect 4-for-4, three hits and two RBIs from Heffley and two hits each from Freeman, Flack and Jordan Erisman. Freeman had three RBIs, while Erisman drove in two more.
"Brookwood is such a team that if you open the door just an inch, they'll do a good job of taking advantage," DeLoach said. "That's what good teams do. I really believe they'll go on and win the state championship. We tip our hats to them."
Saturday, August 02, 2008 
