Once looking like Region 8-AAAA castoffs, Madison County entered its season finale bidding for the playoffs.
The team’s slim postseason hopes hung in the balance at press time Wednesday. Madison County was slated to play Winder-Barrow that afternoon.
The Red Raiders (14-11, 11-8), who thumped Cedar Shoals 12-2 Monday, entered their final game riding a six-game winning streak, salvaging a season that could have gotten away from them earlier in the year.
“If it’s over tomorrow, we can still feel good about where we ended in relation to where we were started, how we were playing,” coach Charlie Griffeth said Tuesday, prior to Madison County’s season finale.
In fact, the Red Raiders are 10-4 since bottoming out March 22 with a 13-0 loss to Habersham Central at home. The Red Raiders are also 7-2 during the second half of the region schedule.
What’s more, Madison County — which hovered just under the .500 mark for most of the season — clinched a winning season with Monday’s victory over Cedar Shoals. The program hasn’t suffered a losing campaign since 1990.
In Monday’s win, Madison County pitchers combined to throw a three-hitter, while Daniel Townsend went 4-for-4 with five RBIs in the Red Raiders’ pummeling of the last-place Jaguars on a blustery afternoon.
“All the guys threw well around the plate, and we swung it (well),” Griffeth said. “It was a tough wind to play in yesterday (Monday).”
The Red Raiders pounded out 15 hits with Kyle Dean also going 4-for-4 with an RBI.
Bracken Turner had a big hit as well, blasting a two-run homer to the opposite field in the first inning to get Madison County on the scoreboard.
Ahead 4-1 in the bottom of the fifth, the Red Raiders scored four insurance runs to break the game open and four more in the sixth to bring the run rule into effect.
Madison County’s easy victory over Cedar Shoals followed a big 5-2 victory over playoff-contending Clarke Central Friday in Athens.
Griffeth said his team came ready to play against the Gladiators.
“The intensity level is what was so good,” he said. “That’s probably the most keyed-up game we’ve had in a while.”
•MCHS 5, Clarke Central 2 (April 23): Making his first career start, Matthew “Raybo” Robinson threw a complete game, allowing six hits, two walks and two runs while striking out 10 in the Red Raiders’ 5-2 victory over Clarke Central.
The side-armer has struck out 22 batters in his last 13 and two-thirds innings of work.
Madison County jumped on Clarke Central early with three runs in the top of the first — including RBI singles from J. Ben Hardman and Townsend — and built a 5-0 lead through three and a half innings.
The Red Raiders then held off the fourth-place Gladiators, who scored a run in the bottom of the fourth and another in the bottom of the sixth when Bradley West blasted a homerun onto the roof of Clarke Central’s basketball gym.
Offensively, Robinson went 2-for-4, while Hardman was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Other leading hitters were Townsend (1-for-3, RBI) and Haden Martin (1-for-3, double).
The victory avenged a 5-3 loss to the Gladiators earlier this year.
•MCHS 10, Apalachee 2 (April 21): Robinson went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, a double and a homerun last Wednesday as Madison County routed Apalachee 10-2 and kept pace in the region standings.
Turner (1-for-3), Dean (1-for-3) and Hardman (2-for-3) each drove in two runs. Steven Tiller went 2-for-3 with and RBI. Martin also drove home a run.
Savage picked up another win from the mound, working six innings, allowing four hits, two runs and four walks while striking out nine.
The Red Raiders built a 5-1 lead after three innings before the Wildcats pulled closer with a run in the top of the fourth. But Madison County responded with an insurance score in the bottom of the fifth and four more in the sixth.
