TIFTON — Tift County defended Georgia’s border twice over the weekend to raise their record to 8-1. Going into the Region 1-6A schedule, scarily head coach Greg Williams does not believe they are fully clicking yet.

“We haven’t played our best baseball yet, and that’s a good thing” Williams said. “We’ve still got our best baseball in front of us.” Still, they’ve won eight straight games after dropping their opener. And as Williams points out, with a nearly completely new infield setup. Saturday’s configuration saw Walker Brannen at first, Mason Grist at second, Jake Spurlin manning shortstop and Sam Pritchard at the hot corner. Ean Weldon is behind the plate. Tyler VanSumeren plays first in other lineups.

Until everything meshes. “Our pitchers will keep us in every single game we play,” Williams said. The Blue Devils are deep in that department. He believes he has as many as 13 reliable arms on the roster.

Valdosta will be in Tuesday before the Blue Devils go to the Azalea City on Friday for a doubleheader. The Wildcats are 7-3 and held Florida State University High to one hit in a 1-0 win.

Tift won the Battle of the Border finale late Saturday with a 7-2 victory over West Nassau, Florida. Though the Warriors were already heading for a good night’s sleep after falling 11-10 in nine innings in Saturday’s previous game, they kept it close for 3.5 frames.

The Warriors even cut Tift County’s lead to 2-1 in the fourth after Wade Digiorgi’s sacrifice fly plated Nate Burnsed. West Nassau later loaded the bases in the frame before Will Pridgen got a fly to left to escape further damage.

But any momentum the visitors gained was immediately lost as the Blue Devils posted four runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Pritchard led off with a single over second. A bit of strategy then helped West Nassau unravel.

Grist faked a bunt and Pritchard took off. As the second baseman moved to cover the bag on a potential throw, Grist hit the ball where he had been for an infield single.

Brannen did bunt, but a flustered Warriors defense was not accurate on a throw, loading the bases with no outs. Pridgen hit a dribbler in front of the plate, and West Nassau tried and failed to get the speedy Pritchard at home.

The bases were still loaded for John Davis and he hit a hot smash to first. The throw home was wild, allowing a second run to score. Brodie Law, courtesy running for Pridgen, scored on a wild pitch and the Blue Devils were now up 6-1.

TCHS added one more tally in the fifth. Grist, Pridgen and Davis loaded the bases with walks. One more, to Mac Brooks, drove in Grist.

Ethan Lindsey drove in Owen Layfield with a seventh-inning single, but with the bases full and two outs, Graysan Del Toro came in for a strikeout to preserve the win.

Brooks and Spurlin provided Tift’s first two runs of the night, one in each of the first two innings. VanSumeren drove in Brooks on a single up the middle, and Pridgen grounded into a fielder’s choice to plate Spurlin.

Spurlin and VanSumeren each had two hits. VanSumeren had the only extra-base hit, a third-inning triple. Pridgen got the win after throwing five innings and striking out three.

After Valdosta, Tift’s region series are, in order, Richmond Hill, Colquitt County, Lowndes and Camden County. There will be a one-week break between Lowndes and Camden. The Richmond Hill and Lowndes series have home Friday doubleheaders.