BROOKHAVEN – Led by CJ Edmond, the Brookhaven Bucks (21-12) backed a strong outing from Jake Brace with 10 runs on 11 hits to top the Norcross Astros (20-16) 10-3 on Monday evening and win their second straight Sunbelt League Championship.

Brookhaven is the third team in Sunbelt history to win at least two consecutive championships and the first since the Atlanta Crackers won four straight from 2013-16.  Their second straight title caps off a season which also saw them set new Sunbelt single-season records in batting average (.306), home runs (26), and RBI (208).

“It’s really special for the guys,” Bucks head coach Corey Patterson said on his team winning back-to-back titles.  “I’m proud of them.  Jake (Brace) came out and set the tone and pitched excellent like he’s been doing all season.  CJ (Edmond) hit the ball well and had some key big hits in big situations.  We played defense really well, we hit the ball well like we have all year, and I told the guys that if we pitched well and played defense, I wasn’t too worried about our bats.  It was a very well-played game in all aspects.”

Both Edmond and Brace were named Co-MVPs of the Sunbelt Championship.  Edmond, a midseason call-up from the Prospect Division, hit two doubles and drove in two runs to lead the Bucks at the plate.  The right fielder from Covenant College was named the Offensive Championship MVP after going a combined 3-for-8 in the series with three RBI and three walks.

Brace (7-2) pitched seven strong innings and allowed just one run on four hits with seven strikeouts to earn his seventh victory of the season.  The junior right-hander from Georgia Tech retired the side in four of the seven innings that he pitched and only faced more than four batters once throughout the game.

Kevin Kilpatrick added three hits and three runs, Daino Deas finished with two RBI, and Devonte Brown hit a grand slam in the sixth, giving him his eighth home run of the season, which tied a single season record set by Connor Stutts in 2018 and Connor York in 2011.

Trailing 1-0 in the second, Brown drew a hit by pitch, and Zavier Lushington doubled to put runners on second and third for Brookhaven with no outs.  Noah Mendlinger then tied the game with a sacrifice fly into left field, and Kevin Kilpatrick singled through the left side to put runners on the corners.  Patrick Taylor then fouled out to the catcher for the second out, but Edmond put the Bucks ahead 3-1 with a base-clearing double.

The Bucks capitalized on two errors to increase their lead to 4-1 in the third, and then made it 5-1 in the fourth on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Daino Deas before pulling away in the sixth.

With the bases loaded, Deas added another sacrifice fly to make it 6-1.  The Bucks then loaded the bases again on a hit by pitch from Andrew Jenkins, bringing up Devonte Brown, who promptly crushed a no-doubter over the left field wall to make it 10-1 and put the game away for good.

Justin Russell gave the Astros an early 1-0 lead in the second with a first pitch solo home run that snuck just over the right field wall for his 31st RBI of the season, setting a new Sunbelt single-season record.

Down 10-1, the Astros scored two runs in the eighth on an inside-the-park home run from Ethan Underwood and an RBI double from Connor Kirley, but it was too little too late.

Jack Rasmussen (3-2) took the loss for the Astros, who finished the year at 20-16 having won 20 or more games for the second straight season and reached the Sunbelt Championship series for the first time in organization history.

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