Rabbs beat Zebras, earn regional finals berth

A lot has happened for the Atlanta Rabbits’ baseball team since they finished as district champions back on April 30.

The Rabbs have won district, bi-district, area, regional quarterfinals and regional semi-finals titles in the span of a month since the regular season schedule concluded.

Atlanta swept Winnsboro and White Oak and beat out both Harmony and Grandview by winning two contests in a 3-game set.

The Rabbits are now part of the elite eight in all of 3A and just three series wins away from winning the school’s first baseball championship since 1998 and second all-time.

Of the eight teams left, seven of those were district champions. Atlanta won its opener over Grandview but the Zebras evened the series with a game two victory.

The Rabbits left no doubt who would be moving on as the zipped past the Zebras in game three.

Atlanta 4, Grandview 2

The first game may have bene jitters for the Zebras but Atlanta came to play.

The Rabbs scored four runs in the third frame and held on to win, 4-2, over Grandview.

In that inning Kale Carpenter led off with a single, Cooper McClure made it to first safely on a bunt attempt and Jackson Warren hit an RBI single to put Atlanta up, 1-0.

Kelby Smith loaded the bases after a single of his own and the Rabbs picked up another run after Ty Graf hit a sacrifice fly to center.

A couple of batters later Randall Mason singled and loaded the bases once again.

Dex Ebarb walked and Warren scored which pushed the score to, 3-0.

The final run came in after Will Woodruff singled.

Atlanta didn’t allow the Zebras to catch any momentum in hopes of a comeback.

Smith went the distance on the hill as he gave up eight hits over seven innings with no earned runs and nine strikeouts.

McClure ended up going 2-for-4, Warren had an RBI single, Carpenter was 2-for- 3, Woodruff and Ebarb had RBI singles, Graf collected an RBI, and both Mason and Smith added singles.

Atlanta 1, Grandview 8

Game two had the makings of a Rabbit sweep after the Rabbs went up, 1-0, in the first frame, but Grandview scored eight unanswered runs in its, 8-1, win over Atlanta.

Randall Mason and Cooper McClure split time on the mound.

Atlanta’s bats were unusually quiet but Ty Graf did go 2-for-3 with a double, Kelby Smith hit an RBI double, Jackson Warren added a single and McClure added a single.

Atlanta 10, Grandview 0

Game three was a must-win for one of the two teams playing and Atlanta made sure it wasn’t the Zebras moving on.

The Rabbit bats came alive during the contest as Atlanta run-ruled Grandview, 10-0, in six innings.

Atlanta took a, 3-0, lead into the fifth inning and put up seven runs combined in the fifth and sixth frames.

Jackson Warren got plenty of support from his teammates at the plate as Atlanta banged out 10 hits.

On the flip side Warren gave up only two hits in six innings of work while striking out four.

Nick Burden was 2-for-2 with a double, Ty Graf was 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, Warren was 2-for-4 from the dish, Randall mason had an RBI single, Dex Ebarb had a single with two ribbies and Kale Carpenter added a single.

The final eight teams are: Region I – Shallowater vs. Brock, Region II – Atlanta vs. Gunter, Region III – Malakoff vs. Cameron and Region IV – London vs. Bishop.

As of this article there was no information given regarding the game with Gunter.

Check with the team’s Facebook pages for information as it is given.