After facing adversity, Bryan County surges to rare second-round berth in baseball playoffs
PEMBROKE — For the second straight year, Bryan County junior Konnor Leggett is the Region 3-A Public Offensive Player of the Year.
However, the talented left-hander prefers not to talk about his accomplishments but those of his team, which has had to deal with a lot of adversity and yet is in the second round of the GHSA state baseball playoffs for the first time since 1987.
The Redskins (18-7), who were last in the state playoffs in 2016, made a 190-mile road trip last Friday to sweep Pataula Charter in the best-of-three series, 21-10 and 7-6, to earn the right to face ACE Charter (22-7) at 5 p.m. Wednesday in Macon.
“It feels pretty good,” Leggett said of being in the Sweet 16. “We came from nothing to something.”
Richmond Hill baseball: Ethan Fuller casts big shadow for region champion
Season recap: Bryan County boys basketball, after one of the biggest turnarounds in state, ends season
'It's hard. But there are people worse off than us.' Black Creek Golf Club to reopen in May
Bryan County has had a spotty baseball history in recent years, but this season was made more difficult when it lost its home field to renovation and then lost its temporary home field to a tornado.
“We wound up having to play our remaining home games at Rice Mill Park in Statesboro,” Leggett said. “After the tornado, we spent a week just looking for a place to practice and this was while we were fighting to get in the playoffs.
“That made it tougher. We’re just a group of guys who have worked hard to get where we are.”
Leggett has a 9-2 record as a pitcher and is as an excellent outfielder where, with a .397 batting average, he has made his mark as a player with a future. His closest competitor for POY was Metter sophomore shortstop Rustan Rigdon, who committed to Vanderbilt last summer.
After an excellent start in region play, the Redskins suddenly found themselves in playoff limbo after being swept in back-to-back series by Claxton and Metter. The second game with Metter was a home game, which had to be played at Claxton as a result of the tornado.
“They’re a good team,” Leggett said of the defending Class A state champions. “When we played them the second time, it was right after (two days) the tornado and we were dealing with a lot of stuff.”
In its final four games of the season, Bryan County posted series sweeps of Portal and McIntosh County Academy to grab a share of second place with Claxton. BCHS had to go on the road as a No. 3 seed as the Tigers held the tiebreaker advantage. The Redskins now have a six-game winning streak.
“It was big to win those back-to-back games,” Leggett said. “We’re playing pretty good right now. We know there are some games where we could have done better but we know who we are.”
What the Redskins are, Leggett said, is a family, a group of players who have grown up together and are a tight-knit group.
“We’ve been playing together at Hendrix Park since we were 7 years old,” Leggett said. “We have the fight, heart and drive in us to not let anything get us down. We’re all there for one another.”
Joining Leggett on the all-region first team were sophomore outfielder/pitcher Tanner Ennis, senior first baseman Aaron Bailey (team-high 36 RBI), and junior catcher Aiden Martin. Second-team picks were senior third baseman/pitcher Jacob Hughes, sophomore second baseman Sean Kelly Hill and junior shortstop Zach Sitton.
Ennis, as did Leggett and Hill, started on the football team as well as on the Redskins’ state playoff basketball team. Ennis and Hill both missed the first five games of the baseball season due to basketball schedule conflicts. Hill was the sixth man on the basketball team.
Despite the late start, Ennis had an excellent season. As a leadoff man, Ennis hit .339 with 27 stolen bases. As a reliever who appeared in 14 games, the hard-throwing Ennis (1-1) was near unhittable with some impressive numbers. He struck out 52 in only 25 innings in compiling a 0.72 ERA with a 1.0400 WHIP.
Overcoming obstacles this season
Coach Justin Covington, in his third year at his alma mater, said he was proud of how his team has overcome the adversity it has faced this season.
“The boys have done a great job,” Covington said. “They have faced so much adversity throughout the entire season. I have preached to them, ‘How do you respond in the face of adversity?’ I think that we’re in the Sweet 16 answers that question.
“We had to move our home games to Hendrix and they were very accommodating. It still wasn’t our 'home,' though, and then we faced the tornado which ripped our community apart as well as the field we were playing on.”
Baseball accomplishments aside, Covington said he is most proud of what his players did in the aftermath of the storm when they pitched in to help those in need.
“It was their spring break,” Covington said. “As I was one of those out helping the community, I ran into many of them doing the same thing ... cleaning up and helping out.
“We wound up practicing in a backyard facility which was not ideal, but to their credit, we’re still playing.”
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Bryan County High School baseball team plays in Georgia state playoffs
