Carrollton (1962) and Crisp County (1961) have waited a combined 105

Photo courtesy of Crisp County HS

years since their last state titles and the two programs will have to wait until Monday to determine the 2014 Class AAAA state champion in the winner-take-all Game 3. Visiting Crisp County opened a 6-0 lead in the second inning of Game 1 with Taylor Walls' 3-run homer. Walls also took the mound for the Cougars and did quick work as Crisp County completed the mercy-rule victory in under an hour. Devin Taylor sealed the Game 1 with a 2-RBI single in the fifth and finished 1-for-2 at the plate and also reached the base after getting hit by a pitch.

In Game 2, Crisp County pitcher Stewart Tyler opened the game with eight straight balls but settled in and the two teams went scoreless into the third inning. Carrollton finally saw its first runs of the championship series in the third inning of Game 2 when Jackson Hesterlee drove in two RBI with a triple down the right-field line. Brandon Pedigo pushed the lead to 3-0 with his infield single.

Crisp County would battle back the next inning and reclaim the lead at 5-3. Witt Campbell opened the fourth with a single and advanced to third with a Landon Whitman single and a Carrollton fielding error. Logan Carter laid down a sacrifice bunt to score Campbell and Carrollton intentionally walked Walls, who had blasted the 3-run homer earlier in Game 1. The Trojans unintentionally walked Chris McGinnis, who was next at bat, and load the bases before Bradley Hough cleared the bags with a 3-RBI double. Devin Taylor doubled to drive in Hough and Crisp County was three innings away from the sweep with its 5-3 lead.

Tyler was on the mound for Crisp County to start the fifth inning and forced a Andrew Turner pop-out and struck out Mitch McLendon for the second out after allowing a Sam Turner single to open the inning. Carrollton's John Gaiter kept the inning alive and advanced Turner to third with a single. Crisp County made a pitching change and replaced Tyler with Carter and Carrollton would put four two-out runs in the inning to erase the deficit and take a 7-5 lead. Will Hesterlee doubled to drive in two of the four runs and Garrett drove in Hesterlee before Roury Glanton scored the final run of the inning on an error.

Game 3 will be today at 3 p.m. at Carrollton.

Blessed Trinity won two games in extra innings at Cartersville to win the

Photo courtesy Blessed Trinity

Class AAA state championship Saturday. Junior Cody Roberts drove in the game-winning run in both games while picking up the save to preserve a 2-1 win in the series opener.

"He's been lights out," said Titans coach Andy Harlin of Roberts' Game 1 performance. "(Roberts) has been our closer all year long. He caught the game, too. He'll come to me and say, 'I'm good, Coach.' When you give him the ball (to pitch), you feel pretty safe."

Roberts singled home junior Chris Seibert in the top of the eighth inning in Game 1 and then came on to pitch the final three outs of the game in a hostile road environment over the defending state champs. Ryan Young earned the win after pitching eight innings of one-run ball.

Game 2 was more of the same by Roberts, who came on to pitch two innings, then single home the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth of a 3-2 win. The Titans led 2-0 going into the seventh, but watched as the Purple Hurricanes rallied for two runs to send it to extra innings yet again. But Blessed Trinity would load the bases after a scoreless eighth to set up Roberts' heroics. Conor Davis got the win for Blessed Trinity.

Harlin attributed hard work and chemistry for the Titans' clutch play Saturday.

"It's the way they prepare," said Harlin of his team's late-game success. "This group really prepared. They got down to practice early and helped each other and when you have that chemistry, it's like having a superstar on your team."

It was the Titans' second baseball championship and first since 2006. Harlin was the coach of both teams and two of his current assistants were players on the last group of Blessed Trinity state champions.

After two low-scoring games, No. 1 Lambert and defending state champion

Photo by Duane Farkas

Milton will play a deciding Game 3 at 3 p.m. today at Milton.

The visiting Longhorns won Game 1 after a complete-game win by pitcher J.D. Dutka. Tucker Maxwell drove in Dutka with the game-winning run in the top of the seventh.

Game 2 was marked by Milton pitcher Alex Schnell tossing a complete-game in a 5-1 win by the Eagles. Dalton Ewing, Alex Miller and Erik Peterson each had RBIs for the Eagles.

The time for Monday's rubber match has not yet been announced.

Click here for more on the Lambert-Milton series from our partners at the AJC.