Trinity Christian School scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning to secure an 8-2 victory over Bulloch Academy in GISA Region 4-AAA baseball action Monday.

The loss puts the Gators in a precarious possible playoff position headed into today’s continuation of a region game with Augusta Preparatory School which was postponed a month ago due to lightning. A BA win forces a one-game playoff with the Cavs for the fourth seed. A loss means Bulloch will miss the playoffs altogether.

The Gators hosted Augusta Prep on March 23. The tight 1-0 contest was halted in the top of the fifth inning with the Cavs having the bases loaded and no outs.

In Monday’s game, Trinity scored single runs in both the first and second innings. But Bulloch cut the lead in half in the third.

Bailey Smith led off with a sharp single to center. Harrison Averitt drew a walk and Smith Reeves laced a single to right to load the bases with no outs. Chris Young singled up the middle to plate Smith to cut the TCS lead to 2-1. But the Gators could do no more damage.

In fact, that was the story of the afternoon.

"We had our chances," said BA head coach Dennis Dove. "We left 11 guys on base. You can’t win doing that."

Gator starter Joshua Bishop, who gave up just two singles in the first two innings, cruised through the Crusaders in the third and fourth. But in the fifth, TCS leadoff batter Ryan Garew jumped on Bishop’s first pitch and sent it over the right-center field fence. After the BA freshman got EJ Barr to fly out, Jake Keen blasted a solo shot over the left-center field fence. Bishop got out of the inning but TCS held a 4-1 advantage.

Bulloch couldn’t put together an answer in the fifth or the sixth.

Trinity put the game out of reach in the top of the final inning. Senior Hunter Jacobs came on in relief in the sixth and retired the side. But it was a different story in the seventh.

The Crusaders scored four runs on four hits and two BA errors to take an 8-1 advantage.

Bulloch managed to push another run across in the bottom of the inning when senior Clayton Rogers reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced on Young’s single to right and scored on junior Loy Waters’ single to center.

Bishop was tagged with the loss, giving up four runs on five hits in five innings of work. He walked five batters and struck out four. Young led the Gator offense, going two-for-three with a walk.