TIFTON — Tift County put an exclamation point on its 2025 regular season Friday with a 9-2 thumping of Lee County at Devil Diamond.

Tyler VanSumeren needed only 86 pitches in a complete game win over the Trojans, a 20-win team ranked in the top 10 by MaxPreps and Score Atlanta.

On top of that, “They were hot coming in,” said Tift head coach Greg Williams. Seven of Lee County’s 10 losses this year have come to Tift, Houston County and Lowndes. Williams said he was told the Trojans threw some of their top arms Friday.

Everything stayed within the fences Friday, but barely.  Landon Parrish picked up two RBIs in the fifth on a double off the left field wall.

Five batters and now ahead 9-2 with two on, VanSumeren almost ended it early. VanSumeren sent a ball 365 feet, but it was to the deepest part of the ballpark and Lee made the catch. One inning later, pinch-hitter Quae Bell, taking only his third varsity of the year, hit it to the track in left.

Had Bell’s shot gone out, Williams might have been the most proud of anyone.

“Quae comes to practice every day and just works,” he said.

John Davis terrorized Lee all day, going 3-for-3 with a walk. They probably already saw enough of him his first time on the bases, when Davis singled off the glove of a diving second baseman and ended up on third courtesy of a throwing error.

VanSumeren picked up his 40th RBI of the season on a groundout.

The 1-0 score became 1-1 in the third. Jackson Creech rolled out, but brought home Brent Smith.

Tift got back on top in the bottom half. Davis singled to lead off, this time off the first baseman’s glove. After Drew Hembree joined him on the bases via a walk, Mac Brooks came through with a two-out single to right to drive in both.

Lee County got one back in the fourth. Weston Bryan doubled before scoring on Seth Franklin’s sacrifice fly to center. Though Tift couldn’t get Bryan at the plate, they get the trailing runner attempting to tag. Ean Weldon made a perfect throw at the plate to Jake Spurlin at second.

The Devils went 1-2-3 in the fourth. Lee had a chance to make noise after an error in the fifth, but VanSumeren picked off the runner.

That may have been the spark to ignite the fire of the six-run fifth where Tift sent 11 to the dish that more than put the contest out of reach.

“They’re like a bunch of sharks in the water,” said Williams. “When they smell blood, they start attacking.”

Trouble began for the visitors with Davis. After two singles off gloves, he went another route and doubled down the first base line. VanSumeren singled over second and Hembree walked, loading the bases with no outs.

Spurlin walked for make it 4-2. Two batters later, it was 8-2 on back-to-back two-run doubles by Brooks and Parrish. Sam Pritchard drove in Parrish on a liner up the middle that nearly took the pitcher with it.

After Davis walked, VanSumeren nearly finished off Lee there, but the ball was his in the direction of the batter’s eye and thus a few feet short.

Neither team scored after, though Bell came close to making it 11-2 int he sixth.

Davis had three hits and scored three times. Brooks had four RBIs on a pair of hits. VanSumeren struck out four in earning his fifth win of the year.

From here, Tift advances to the state Class 6A playoffs. North Paulding, the No. 3 seed from Region 5, is coming to town Wednesday. No time has been set yet, but it will likely be a doubleheader. State tournament series are best-of-three.