Alpharetta Loses to Colquitt County in Game Three

After splitting the opening double header of their GHSA AAAAA baseball quarterfinal with the Colquitt County Packers, the Alpharetta Raiders came into Wednesday's deciding game three needing a victory to move on to the semifinals.

The Raiders got off to a solid start in the first inning as left fielder Even Trout doubled and then scored on a fielder's choice giving Alpharetta an early 1-0 lead.

Colquitt County came back strong in the second inning, scoring six runs on four hits and temporarily taking the wind out of the Raiders sails.  

Finding themselves down 6-1 in the top of the third inning, Alpharetta knew they needed to regain their momentum and get back into the game. The spark came as third baseman Dmitri Kourtis came to the plate with the bases loaded and launched a grand slam home run over the right field fence, just inside the foul pole. 

The Raiders held Colquitt County scoreless in the third and trailed by one run, 6-5, going into the fourth inning.

Alpharetta scored again in the top of the fifth inning, knotting the score at 6-6. The Packers went three up and three down in their half of the fifth, but the Raiders were also unable to add any runs in the top of the sixth.

The Packers' second baseman Matt Creech led off the sixth inning with a single. Alpharetta chose to intentionally walk the Packers' first baseman Cole Pitts. Creech scored from second base on a single by Austin Dykes.  On the same play, Pitts was advancing to third when the throw got away from Alpharetta's third baseman allowing Pitts to score as well. Colquitt County's final run of the inning came when designated hitter Hayden Kudela doubled, driving in Dykes.

When the dust had settled on the sixth inning, the Packers held a 9-6 lead. 

Alpharetta was unable to score in the top of the seventh inning, giving Colquitt County the victory and allowing them to move on the the semifinals against Parkview.