GUYTON – South Effingham won on Friday because of how the Mustangs responded to being down three runs early against rival Effingham County, which had beaten them three days earlier in Springfield and swept two games in 2025.
The host Mustangs bunched together six of their nine total hits in a five-run fourth inning to take their only lead and close out the scoring for a 6-4 victory over the Rebels.
“Hitting’s contagious,” South Effingham head coach Jesse Osborne said. “I’ve always been told that. I’ve always believed that. Just pass the bat to the next guy. The energy gets up. The belief gets up. It’s just contagious.”
South Effingham (7-6) trailed 4-1 with one out in the fourth and then doubled, singled, reached on an error, singled, grounded out for a run, and then hit three consecutive singles before the third out.
Osborne credited his hitters’ aggressive approach at the plate, including taking cuts at first-pitch strikes and looking for a pitch to drive.
“We gave up the three runs in the third; we just didn’t lay down,” Osborne said. “Getting out there and competing, came up and put up the one run (in the bottom of the third) and fighting our way back. We obviously got the big inning in the fourth that put us ahead. It’s just not laying down. Every pitch, competing. I think we saw that tonight.”
Rebels coach Eric McCombie didn’t like as much what he saw from the other dugout.
Effingham County, a GHSA Class 5A quarterfinalist last season, had won 10 of its first 12 games this season, including a 4-1 win over SEHS on Tuesday that McCombie missed to be with his wife, Eden, for the birth of their third child (and daughter), Eloise.
Nine of the Rebels’ 10 wins have come when they allowed four runs or fewer. Their two previous losses came when opponents scored five and six runs.
“As soon as I saw that creep up there,” McCombie said of the Mustangs’ rally in the fourth inning, “I’m like, we get to four runs, it’s going to be tough. It’s tough to score runs, especially when they’re running those good arms out there.”
The teams’ first meeting this season on Tuesday featured their ace pitchers, with the Rebels’ Kyle Thomas throwing a complete-game five-hitter with one unearned run, one walk, and eight strikeouts to outduel fellow senior right-hander Lance Cantaline.
Left-hander Nico Ellwood, the Mustangs’ No. 2 starter, began well enough on Friday by allowing only a single in the first before a 1-2-3 inning in the second.
Effingham County righty Ayden Roeser, converted to a starter after stellar work as a closer, likewise got through two shutout innings relatively unscathed.
In the top of the third, the Rebels got to Ellwood for three runs. He loaded the bases on a walk to Karson Thompson, leadoff batter Kris Swinney’s bloop single, and a walk to designated hitter Thomas.
A wild pitch brought in one run, and a walk to standout hitter Kaleb Pendley reloaded the bases. Though the score was only 1-0 at the time, Osborne went for a change of pace and pulled finesse pitcher Ellwood for harder-throwing Carter Futch, who moved to the mound from second base.
Osborne explained after the game that the timing was right to make the switch, rather than wait and go through the Rebels’ lineup again. Futch has experience as a starter and the ability for long relief, said the coach, who knows senior Ellwood well enough to pick up on when “he’s uncomfortable, maybe, or something’s not right.”
Futch yielded a sacrifice fly that scored Swinney and allowed Thomas to take third, then Thomas scored when Pendley stole second base. Futch ended the threat with a strikeout.
South Effingham closed to 3-1 on JT Barkley’s one-out single, a wild pitch, a stolen base, and Jacob Duncan’s high-chopping infield single in the bottom of the third.
Effingham County restored the three-run advantage in the top of the fourth on three consecutive walks to load the bases with one out, then Swinney’s sacrifice fly to score Landon Carter.
Then the Mustangs’ bats took over, and Futch earned the win by allowing one run and one hit with four walks and three strikeouts over 3 1/3 innings. Jonas Brown picked up the save with one hit, no walks, and one strikeout over 1 1/3 innings.
“I was a little shaky at first,” Futch said. “I didn’t throw as many strikes as I wanted to. But other than that, I was fine.
“I settled in,” the junior continued. “My teammates helped me out, putting up five (runs) in the fourth inning. We shut it down from there.”
Osborne, whose handling of the pitchers was a key to victory, said of Futch: “He walked a few more people than we wanted to, but he competed. He didn’t have his best stuff – he knows that. He competed. He kept us in the ballgame.”
SEHS got to Roeser in the fourth after he recorded a strikeout. Cole McMurry smacked a double to the left-field corner, then Trevor Seguin flared an opposite-field hit to right. Dylan Dewitt reached on a throwing error as one run came home, then Barkley hit an RBI single, Duncan drove in another on a groundout, then Evan Hollis and Bryce Hodges (first pitch) singled. Roeser was replaced by left-hander Travis LaFontaine, whose first pitch was lined to center by Cade Womack for the sixth hit of the inning and sixth run of the game.
“You’ve got to credit them,” McCombie said. “They made some big hits in big spots. It’s tough to win on the road against a good team like that.”
While McCombie noted his batters walked seven times, it could have had the effect of chilling their aggression at the plate as they “get a little more timid and you’re taking more pitches than we usually do.”
The coach said the Rebels didn’t play well “across the board,” from pitching and fielding to hitting (four total hits).
“We just didn’t come ready to play tonight,” McCombie said. “They took advantage of us, so you’ve got to tip your hat to them. Jesse (Osborne) made some good moves on the mound there. Our guys just couldn’t get out of that funk of that five-run inning.”
South Effingham 6, Effingham County 4
EFFINGHAM COUNTY 003 100 0 — 4 4 4
SOUTH EFFINGHAM 001 500 x — 6 9 0
W—Carter Futch (3-1/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K)
L—Ayden Roeser (3-2/3 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 HBP)
S—Jonas Brown (1-1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K)
Leading Hitters
ECHS — Kris Swinney 1-3, R, RBI, SF; Kyle Thomas 1-3, R, BB, SB; Karson Thompson 3 BB; Hunter Tuten RBI, SF.
SEHS — JT Barkley 2-4, 2 R, RBI, 2B, SB; Evan Hollis 2-4, R, RBI, 2B, SB; Jacob Duncan 2 RBI; Cole McMurry 1-3, R, 2B.
Records—ECHS 10-3, SEHS 7-6.
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Photo Credirt: Birk Herrath Photography
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Team physicians include Dr. Don Aaron (Bryan County), Dr. David Sedory (Benedictine, Bradwell Institute, Liberty County), Dr. David Palmer (Calvary Day, Richmond Hill, South Effingham), and Dr. Thomas Alexander (Savannah Country Day, St. Vincent’s Academy).
Photo credit: Courtesy of HV Jenkins Baseball Program and Calvary Day Athletics Department.
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