Woodland falls to Flowery Branch in series deciding game

Flowery Branch senior pitcher Riley Mitchell tossed a complete-game, one-hitter Tuesday night in the deciding game of the Falcons’ best-of-three series at Woodland to defeat the Wildcats 7-0.

The Falcons’ win secured the series and sends Flowery Branch (21-11) to the Sweet Sixteen round starting Saturday at Region 6-5A champ, Centennial.

Woodland and Flowery Branch split Monday’s doubleheader in the Class 5A first-round state playoff series. The Falcons won the opener 1-0 and the Wildcats won Game 2, 14-7.

Tuesday, the two teams battled evenly through the first five innings but a big sixth inning led to the Flowery Branch victory.

Flowery Branch got on the scoreboard first in the top of the fourth inning. The Falcons got a two-out double by Mitchell that was followed by an infield error on a grounder that allowed a run to score.

In the decisive sixth inning, Flowery Branch tacked on six more runs to gain control of the game.

A hit batsman and back-to-back singles loaded the bases for the Falcons in the sixth. Ethan Mieldezis was then hit by a pitch to make the score 2-0. After a strikeout, Austin Bourrie singled into centerfield to push across two more runs and make the score 4-0. One out later, Mason Compton singled into left field to drive in a run and put Flowery Branch up 5-0.

A throwing error on a pickoff attempt and another RBI single gave the Falcons a 7-0 advantage.

Woodand managed three more baserunners in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings but failed to push any of them across.

In seven innings on the mound, Mitchell allowed just one hit and five walks. He struck out two.

Junior pitcher Zach Lambert limited Flowery Branch to just one run through the first five innings,

Lambert went five-plus innings for the Wildcats. He allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits with no walks. Coby Barrett retired two outs, one by strikeout, in the sixth inning allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits. Julian Wright retired the final four outs on the mound for Woodland allowing just one walk. Wright fanned two.

Brett Good had the only Woodland base hit in the game. It was a two-out single in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Woodland’s season ends with a 19-14 record and a runner-up finish in Region 7-5A.