By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The Lafayette Christian School Cougars are one step closer to a state championship.

With Monday’s doubleheader sweep of Horizon Christian Academy, Lafayette Christian has advanced to the semifinals of the Georgia Independent Christian Athletic Association state baseball playoffs.

Lafayette Christian will host a semifinal series against Westminster Christian Academy.

The teams will play a doubleheader on Friday at LaGrange College, and if needed, a third and deciding game will be played on Saturday.

If Lafayette Christian beats Westminster, it will advance to the state-championship series on May 10 to play either Cherokee Christian or Peachtree Academy.

Lafayette Christian, the number one seed from Region 4-AA, had no trouble with Horizon Christian, the second seed from Region 4-AA.

After winning the first game 12-4, Lafayette Christian finished off the sweep with a 13-3 victory.

In the first game, the Cougars fell behind 3-0 in the top of the first inning, but they were in control the rest of the way.

The Cougars took the lead with six runs in the bottom of the third, and they didn’t look back.

Landon Bush had two of the Cougars’ 12 hits, and he had two RBIs.

Cason Firth, Ben Ogle and Brock Tumlin each had two hits and an RBI, and Devin Lindsey had a hit and an RBI.

Jacob Karvelas and Levi Spears each had one hit.

Adam Barnett was the Cougars’ starting pitcher, and after a tough start, he settled down to throw six innings.

Levi Spears pitched a scoreless seventh inning to finish it.

In the second game, the Cougars had to fight from behind once again.

The Cougars were trailing 3-0 when they plated four runs in the top of the fourth inning, and they scored the game’s final 13 runs.

Lafayette Christian put it away by scoring six runs in the seventh and final inning.

The Cougars had a big offensive day with 16 hits, and eight different players had at least one hit.

Brock Tumlin had three hits and two RBIs, and Landon Bush had three hits with one RBI. Jacob Karvelas, Adam Barnett, Cason Firth and Nathan Karvelas each had two hits and an RBI.

Levi Spears had a hit and an RBI, and Devin Lindsey had a hit.

Nathan Karvelas pitched six strong innings to get the win, and Jacob Karvelas threw a scoreless seventh inning to close things out.