Hillgrove Rallies to Force Game 3

Robert Stewart redeemed himself after breaking a promise Saturday.

The senior told his coach he would successfully bunt in the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 2 of Saturday's Georgia High School Association AAAAA championship baseball series at .

After two failed attempts with runners on first and second, Stewart instead hit his first home run of the year for a 13-10 win that forced a deciding third game Monday at 5:30 p.m. at Parkview.

Max Oberkofler was hit by a pitch to start the inning for Hillgrove. Tyler Graham laid down a sacrifice bunt but reached on a throwing error, setting up Stewart's heroics with a shot that barely cleared the right-field fence and leaping Panther right fielder Ryan Blanton.

"My dad told me before I went up there to watch the ball all the way," Stewart said. "I just threw my hands" at the pitch from Parkview reliever Phillip Taylor, who took the loss.

Taylor, who entered the game with two outs in the fourth inning and the Panthers ahead 8-7, cruised through the seventh, eighth and ninth innings before giving up Hillgrove fifth homer of the game in the 10th.

After winning the first game 6-5, Parkview (28-10) appeared en route to its fourth championship and first since 2002. Ahead 5-0 in the second and 8-2 in the fourth inning of the second game, the Panthers seemed to have control against a fifth-year team in its first championship series.

Matt Olson's three-run homer put the Panthers ahead in the first inning. After Hillgrove rallied behind a grand slam by Justin Motley and a solo shot by Ryan Roper back to back in the fifth inning, Olson hit a two-run homer—his team-leading 16th—to put Parkview up 10-7 in the sixth.

But senior catcher Michael Adkins, who went 7-of-8 at the plate during the doubleheader with two homers, three doubles and five RBI, made the score 10-10 with a three-run homer in the sixth for Hillgrove (29-8).

Adkins said he was "lucky enough to get pitches I could stay on and do stuff with."

Both Adkins and Olson were intentionally walked in extra innings to prevent them from getting a third homer.

Hillgrove coach David Richardson said that forcing a third game showed his team's heart.

"These guys have been resilient throughout this playoff run," he said. "Solid defense gave us a chance and kept us in it."

Hillgrove also lost the against and trailed in Game 2, then rallied to win in extra innings and to advance.

Senior pitcher Josh Hagerman entered the game in relief of Ben Lumsden with the bases loaded and one out in the third inning and allowed those runners to score. He also gave up Olson's sixth-inning home run but otherwise shut down the Panthers over 7.1 innings of work to get the win.

From the fourth inning on, Hagerman gave up only two hits besides Olson's homer. 

Olson, the Region 8-AAAAA player of the year, said losing Game 2 gave the Panthers resolve to play hard Monday.

The Mill Creek series marked the only time the Region 4-AAAAA champion Hawks needed a third game in their previous four playoff series; Parkview is facing a third game for the third time.

"It was hard to watch them celebrate in our yard," Olson said. "But we'll use that as fuel for Monday."

In Game 1, the Panthers survived a late scare, again with Taylor on the mound.

Trailing 6-2 and down to their final out, the Hawks started to rally when Adkins hit a single. Blanton then dropped Tucker Ehmig's shallow fly ball to right for a game-extending error, and Oberkofler slugged a three-run homer to make it 6-5.

Graham doubled to knock Taylor out of the game, but Jack Esmonde came in and got Justin Motley to line out to center to end the game.

Olson was the winning pitcher for Parkview in Game 1, and Graham took the loss.

Hillgrove came from 2-0 down to tie the opener 2-2 on a third-inning Adkins double, but allowed Parkview three runs on a hit and an error in the bottom of that inning and never recovered.

The Hawks outhit the Panthers 12-6 in the game but left nine men on base.

Panthers coach Chan Brown, coaching his first championship series, considers Monday's third game welcome drama.

"That's what it's all about," he said. "Game 3, winner take all."