Offense has not been an issue for the Gilmer High Bobcats.
GHS was on the baseball diamond for three games last week to begin its 2024 campaign, and the Bobcats walked away victorious each time.
Gilmer made its way to Blue Ridge Tuesday to take on Fannin County. The host Rebels jumped ahead in the first inning before the Cats began to chip away. Gilmer’s two-run fifth went unanswered, and the Bobcats earned a 5-4 victory.
GHS welcomed Murray County to town Thursday. Gilmer led throughout and fended off the Indians late for the win, 8-6. The Bobcats traveled to Murray the following evening. GHS collected 13 hits and its lead was enough to bring an ending to the game after five innings, 13-1.
“Anytime you can go on the road for the opening game against anybody, but especially one of your rivals and come out with a win, that’s always a positive thing,” said head coach Jeff Thurman.” That’s not an easy thing to do, and the way we accomplished it made us really proud of the boys.
“We were able to bounce back and kept our focus and just kept battling. After the first inning it became a defensive and pitching game, and we were able to get some runs late. We had some timely hitting when it counted. We did a good job battling with two strikes.”
Gilmer had seven hits and gladly accepted seven walks when Rebel pitchers struggled to find the strike zone. Austin Zabala led off the game with a single. A Rebel error helped keep the at-bat alive, and Zabala scored when Dalton Crisp grounded out to second.
FCHS answered with four runs in its half of the inning. A two-run double moved Fannin ahead, and a two-out error allowed a pair of Rebels to cross home plate.
Runs continued in the second, and GHS plated a pair. Peyton Chancey singled and both Haden West and Zabala drew walks. Gilmer cut into the Rebels’ lead when Noah Gutillo was hit by a pitch. A Crisp ground out drew GHS within a run.
Gilmer was back at it in the fifth. Ethan McCollum’s double, Blake Grizzle’s single and Chancey’s walk loaded the bases. McCollum raced home when the Rebels’ second baseman was unable to cleanly field Zabala’s grounder.
FCHS threatened in the seventh with runners on first and second base with one out. A Rebel strikeout and ground out ended the game.
Crisp pitched the final three innings and got the win. He struck out six, walked one and allowed one hit. McCollum started the game and went four innings. He gave up a hit, three walks and an earned run while striking out seven.
Versus Murray Thursday, McCollum’s two-run double got GHS on the board in the first. In the second, West’s sacrifice bunt added a third run, and Zabala’s single moved GHS ahead, 4-0.
A wild pitch allowed MCHS to get a run back in the third before GHS struck for three runs in its half of the inning. Gutillo’s base hit to right scored Zabala and West, who both walked. McCollum’s single to left increased Gilmer’s lead to 7-1.
Four walks, a single and double cut Gilmer’s advantage down to 7-5 in the fifth. Zabala’s RBI single plated the Cats’ final run in their at-bat.
MCHS started the seventh with a walk and single. An ensuing grounder to West scored a run, but GHS turned a double play. A strikeout ended the Indians’ hopes.
GHS pitching Zabala (W) 4 IP, 1 H, 4 ER, 6 K, 5 BB. Landen McClure 2 IP, 1 ER, 3 K, 2 BB. Hayden Berry 1 IP, 1 ER, 2 K, 1 BB.
Gutillo and McCollum joined Zabala with two hits.
Four Bobcats had multi hit games in Friday’s rematch. Cooper and McCollum each tallied three hits while Grizzle, Berry and West all had two. Cooper, McCollum and West drove in three runs apiece, and Crisp and Grizzle both had one RBI.
GHS followed up its one-run first inning with four in the second, seven in the fourth and one in the fifth. MCHS scattered three hits and plated its lone run in the fourth.
GHS pitching: West (W) 3 IP, 4 K. Crisp 2/3 IP, 2 K. Cooper Cochran 1 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 K, 1 BB.
“We were kind of cruising along up 7-1 then walked three straight guys in the fifth,” said Thurman of Thursday’s game. “After that we were pretty much able to shut them down. Hayden Berry came in and closed that game and looked really good, and got a double play with Haden West and Eli Cooper up the middle.
“We were able to kind of sneak by in those first two games, but the bats came alive in the game at Murray. We just did a great job of putting it in play. They did make some mistakes and we took advantage of them, which I was glad to see.”
A recap of Gilmer’s Monday night 15-0 win against Fannin will appear in next Week’s Times-Courier.
GHS will head to coastal Georgia for the Baseball at the Beach. The Bobcats will play Milton Friday at 4 p.m. ahead of Saturday’s games versus Hilton Head Chastain Academy (4 p.m.) and Bremen (7 p.m.).