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South Effingham Falls to Evans in Game 3, Misses State
South Effingham baseball
South Effingham coach Jesse Osborne, shown in a file photo. ‘We all thought this year was going to be different,’ Osborne said after the Mustangs’ 14-4 loss to Evans in Game 3 ended their postseason hopes. (Mark Lastinger / Effingham Herald)

GUYTON, Ga. — Less than 24 hours after producing a season-high 18 runs, South Effingham’s bats cooled considerably Friday afternoon.

The Mustangs grabbed an early lead but couldn’t keep pace with Evans and fell 14-4 to the host Knights in the deciding third game of a best-of-three quarterfinal series in the Class 5A Region 1 baseball tournament.

It marks the second straight season South Effingham has failed to reach the state tournament after advancing every year since 2012 — except for 2020, when the postseason was canceled due to COVID-19.

Format frustrations

“We all thought this year was going to be different,” Mustangs coach Jesse Osborne said. “We have a lot of good teams in our region, and it’s not fair that a season isn’t decided by a body of work. It comes down to how you play in two days.”

Next year, state playoff positioning will be determined by power rankings.

Series recap

South Effingham (16-10) dropped the opener of Thursday’s doubleheader to Evans, 6-4, but rebounded in the nightcap with an 18-5 victory to force a decisive Game 3.

Osborne and the Mustangs were optimistic, but the Knights have been comfortable in winner-take-all games. Evans defeated Greenbrier and Lakeside in Game 3s to win regular-season subregion series and also beat Effingham County in a third game to secure a No. 2 seed.

Game 3 turns

South took a 2-0 lead in Game 3, but Evans answered with four runs in the third inning and steadily pulled away.

“We never recovered,” Osborne said. “We walked in runs. We hit batters. Defensively, we weren’t consistent, and we couldn’t get the bats going. Evans hit the ball, and we didn’t.”

What’s next

Evans (21-7), led by former South Effingham coach Todd Eubanks, advances to the Region 1 Final Four at Brunswick on April 14.

Glynn Academy, a first-round winner over Effingham County, will travel to Greenbrier on April 14 for the other semifinal.

The winners will meet for the region championship April 16, while the losers will play for the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds in the state tournament.

For South Effingham, the season concludes with regular-season games against Richmond Hill and McIntosh on Wednesday and Thursday.

Effingham County’s season ends with a game at Jenkins in Savannah on Monday, followed by a home doubleheader against Harlem on Tuesday.