By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

Former George County standout Trevor McDonald continues to impress as he climbs the ladder in the San Francisco Giants organization.
On Saturday, McDonald supplied a solid pitching performance for the Sacramento River Cats in a 4-1 road win over the Sugar Land Space Cowboys.
It marked McDonald’s first ever start in Triple A after spending the past few seasons in Class A and Class AA.
McDonald (1-0) appeared ready for the moment as he retired each of the first eight and nine of the first 11 batters he faced. It wasn’t until the fourth when he allowed his first hit, a two-out single by Pedro Leon, while his only run was allowed when he put a pair of runners on before exiting the game in the sixth as Sugar Land struck for its only run when Will Wagner delivered a broken-bat RBI single. Although the run was charged to McDonald, Sacramento still had a 2-1 lead and then Sacramento struck again for insurance runs in the top of the seventh. Jerar Encarnacion smacked a two-run blast to right field on a 2-1 count to extended his hitting streak to 16 games and secure the win for McDonald.

All told, the three River Cats hurlers combined to allow just three hits.
The 2019 George County graduate headed straight to the pros after being drafted in the 11th round (326th overall) of the 2019 MLB Draft by the San Francisco Giants.
He had originally signed to play at South Alabama before finishing his senior season with the Rebels 8-2 with a 1.78 ERA in 12 games, striking out 105 and walking 15 in 51 innings and then deciding to turn pro.
The 22-year-old McDonald made only 14 appearances (13 starts) in 2023, but he was dominant when healthy, recording a 1.33 ERA with 51 strikeouts over 47 1/3 innings between Rookie ball and High-A. Despite the small sample size, the Giants still saw enough to add him to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft last year.

In 2021, McDonald was named Pitcher of the Year by the San Jose Giants, the Single-A affiliate for the San Francisco Giants, as he produced a 1.67 earned run average as a starter and allowed one or no earned runs in seven of his 10 starts. He gave up only two homers in his 90 1/3 innings and had a 0.77 ERA at home before a late-August promotion to the High-A Eugene Emeralds.