BRANDON — Brandon is headed to back to Trustmark Park.
Behind a very potent offensive approach the Bulldogs raced past Oak Grove 13-1 in a run-ruled five innings in Game 2 to sweep the MHSAA Class 7A South State Championship series on Wednesday night at Mark Vinson Field.
“I mean everything we threw up there they smashed. It seemed like everything we threw they hit. Give them credit that hasn’t happened to us all year,” Oak Grove coach Chris McCardle said. “It happens, that’s baseball and it snowballed on us. Proud of the kids of the way they played and how far we got. We will be back.”
Brandon (23-12) will face rival Madison Central for the Class 7A State Championship next week at Trustmark Park in Pearl.
“I’ve told the guys all year if they play like they’re capable of they can beat anybody and they’ve showed that the last two games,” said Brandon coach Daniel Best. “I feel like we got one of the best offenses when we’re swinging the bat.”
Oak Grove struck first and their only run of the game on the game’s fourth pitch as E.J. Booth hit a leadoff home run to right to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead. That was also Oak Grove’s only hit of the game.
Brandon answered with five runs in the bottom of the first inning on a pair of two-run singles by Tre Adcox and Grady Smith, while Jacob Chancelor added an RBI double.
Jay McQueen scored on a groundout in the second to extend the Bulldogs lead to 6-1.
Brandon added four runs in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run double by McQueen, a RBI single by Chancelor, and an RBI single by Graydon Walker.
The Bulldogs got a walk-off three-run home run by Keith Forbes in the bottom of the fifth to take the 13-1 lead and enhance the ten-run rule.
“Oak Grove is a really good team, extremely well coached, and a solid program. I told the guys before the game that they have some confidence with Thompson on the mound and he shut us down the last time he faced us, but we weren’t the same offense the last time he saw us early in the year,” Best said. “Bats got hot down the stretch and the guys are playing with a lot of confidence. They feed off each other and we jumped on them early and kept it going. Glad to be going back to Trustmark and we’ve been there before, so hopefully that gives us more confidence.”
McQueen had three hits to lead Brandon offensively and got the win on the mound pitching a complete game allowing just one hit, one run, and had five strikeouts. Walker, Adcox, Smith, and Chancelor all added two hits for the Bulldogs.
Gage Thompson (9-1) took the loss on the mound for Oak Grove. The Warriors (25-7) were back in the South State championship series for the first time since 2021.
Follow @PineBeltSPORTS on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
