The HoCo Bears hosted the Loganville Red Devils in a doubleheader in the Final Four of the GHSA AAAAA Playoffs and the result was a Black, Silver, and White sweep.. winning Game One 4-1 and winning Game Two 5-2 to advance to the AAAAA State Final. Game One started off slow as the first 3 1/2 innings would go scoreless.
Noah Odom would break the scoreless draw with a rbi single to drive in Tyson Ganas. Vick Gann would follow suit with an rbi single to drive in Noah Odom to make the score 2-0 Bears and Isaiah Galason would hit an rbi single to drive in Vick Gann to make the score 3-0 HoCo going into inning five. The Red Devils would get on the board by plating a run via a E6 to cut the gap down to 3-1 in favor of the host going into the last of the fifth.
Bears’ Ethan Buffone led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo jack to make the score 4-1 in favor of the Black, Silver, and White and that would be the final score of Game One. Vick Gann, Isaiah Galason, Ethan Buffone, and Noah Odom each were responsible for one rbi a piece.
HoCo SP Will Allen once again pitched a complete game.. surrendering one unearned run on four hits, walking one, and striking out four on 106 pitches.
Game Two would be a tighter contest for most of the game as Loganville would lead 1-0 after two and the designated visitors for the second game would tie it up in the top of the third when Logan Elble hit an rbi single to drive in Isaiah Galason and the Red Devils would retake the lead at 2-1 going into the fifth inning.
The top of the fifth is where HoCo would turn the momentum as Logan Elble was hit-by-pitch to round the bases and drive in Kendall Jackson to tie the game at 2 all. Ethan Buffone would ground into fielder’s choice to drive in Vick Gann to give the Bears their first lead of Game Two at 3-2 and Isaiah Galason would score on a wild pitch to make the score 4-2 HoCo which would be the score going into the last of the fifth.
The Black, Silver, and White would extend it’s lead in the top of the seventh to 5-2 when Ethan Buffone hit an rbi single to drive in Isaiah Galason and Buffone advanced to second on the throw. HoCo would shut down Loganville in innings six and seven to secure the win and the sweep to make the State Championship Series for the fifth time in program history.
Logan Elble and Ethan Buffone each were responsible for the Bears’ four rbis in Game Two with two a piece. SP Max Wilhide pitched for five innings.. surrendering two runs (one earned) on five hits, walking three, and striking out three in the process while reliever Tyson Ganas relief-pitched innings six and seven and surrendered no runs on one hit, walking one, and striking out one in the process to record the save.
The Black, Silver, and White improves to 33-5 on the season and will take on the Newnan Cougars in the State Final next week at CoolRay Field in Gwinnett Co as the date and times are not known as of this writing. HoCo’s Game Two win marked the first time ever that the Bears have started 8-0 in a single Playoff run and will carry a 15-game win streak into next week.
Loganville fails to make the State Championship Series for the first time since 2015 and will finish 2025 at 29-8 overall.
