By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
SPRINGFIELD – It's been a frustrating year for Effingham County's baseball team but Coach Shane Ramsey knows something that could ease some of the disappointments – beating South Effingham.
The annual rivalry between schools separated by 14 miles began April 10 in Guyton. The three-game series shifted to Springfield for Game 2 today with the finale slated for Friday back in Guyton.
South entered the series with a 16-8 record, 9-4 in Region 2-6A play and has region championship aspirations.
ECHS (7-14, 3-8) has lost three games in a row with state playoff hopes fading rapidly.
But …
“You go into a series like (the SEHS series) thinking, ‘we have a chance to win three games against a quality opponent,’” Ramsey said. “I'm not worried about my guys being down going into this series.”
It's the local high school version of Army-Navy, Michigan-Ohio State, North Carolina-Duke. Winning against a rival has a way of making everything better.
"Even when I was a player (at SEHS), I never thought playing Effingham County was going to be easy," Mustangs coach Jesse Osborne said. "(The series) is always the talk of the town. It's the World Series for (county baseball) kids every year."
During the past six years, Effingham County has won three series and South has won three series and the teams have split 18 games, 9-9.
Last year, the Rebels won the first game 10-8, then led 5-2 in the sixth inning of Game 2 before Zach Wert hit a grand slam to lift the Mustangs to an 8-5 win. SEHS won the third game 7-2.
"We have to match their intensity," Ramsey said. "We did a good job early on in the series last year. Then the grand slam changed everything. We didn't handle the adversity."
This year, the rebuilding Rebels have been competitive, but snake-bitten. They had leads in the seventh inning of all three games against region-leader Evans, but eventually lost all three games.
ECHS then dropped a 6-5 game to Grovetown and lost 4-1 and 2-0 during the first two games of the series with Brunswick.
Finally a break. Mother Nature stepped in last Friday night with the Pirates again leading 2-1 in the fifth inning. The game will have to be played over from the start.
"(The Rebels) have been in all their games," Osborne said. "We know they've been one big hit away from being on the opposite end."
The Mustangs haven't needed a lot of help. They've displayed their big-game experience and moxie in recent close games, including a come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Glynn Academy to win the recent three-game set with the ninth-ranked Terrors.
"We still have a shot to get in (the playoffs), but we have to win out. We'll be motivated," Ramsey said.
