For only the fourth time in school history, Gilmer High qualified for the baseball state playoffs.
The Bobcats’ three-game sweep of the West Hall Spartans last week enabled them to reach the postseason for the first time since 2017.
Gilmer hit the road to take on WHHS last Monday and unleashed 17 hits in a 21-3 shellacking. The Cats hosted West Hall two days later to wrap up the series. Gilmer made short work of the Spartans in game two, 11-1. GHS sealed its state playoff spot with a 9-7 win in the finale.
Head coach Jeff Thurman discussed the Bobcats’ achievement and what they plan to do with the opportunity.
“The region is very tough from top to bottom,” he said. “Even a team like West Hall took a game from Dawson and White counties. We’re happy to be where we’re at and to come out of the region and make the playoffs. It’s been a few years since we’ve been able to do that.
“The next thing we talked about was we can’t just be happy with where we’re at. The last two times we made the playoffs when I was head coach, we didn’t perform the way we would have liked to. We want to play good baseball. One thing we can control is our effort and how hard we play while we’re there. That’s our next goal, we want to play a tight playoff series and just see what happens.”
Gilmer wrecked the Spartans in game one as Thurman emptied his bench. Eighteen players had a plate appearance, and Bobcats Ethan McCollum, Noah Gutillo and Hayden Berry collected an extra base hit with a double.
McCollum knocked in four runs, while Gutillo and Dalton Crisp each drove in three, and Berry had two RBIs. Blake Grizzle collected two hits and knocked in a run.
Austin Zabala tossed a complete game and struck out seven Spartans while walking four. He gave up four hits, and none of West Hall’s runs were earned.
GHS was up quickly after a three-run first inning. They led 4-0 after the third and 7-1 at the conclusion of the fourth. After WHHS scored two in the fifth, GHS answered with three runs in the sixth to lead, 10-3. However, the game was far from over.
Sixteen batters strolled to the plate in the seventh, and the Cats belted eight hits in the inning. They also took advantage of two walks and a hit batter. By the time the dust had settled, the Spartans were down by 18 runs.
Zabala retired West Hall in order for the win.
Eli Cooper, Zander Shute, Rob Mosley, Mel Mosley, Landon McClure, Haden West and Berry each had one hit on the day. Deacon Shull collected two RBIs and McClure and Shute had one apiece.
Game two Wednesday only needed 4 1/2 inning when the Spartans were able to cut into the Cats’ lead in the fifth. Crisp pitched all five innings and struck out two and walked two. He allowed four hits and an earned run.
The Bobcats recorded 10 hits and scored runs in every inning. In the first, McCollum smacked a double, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a WHHS error. Two more Spartan errors in the second gave GHS a 2-0 edge.
In the third, Gutillo doubled and scored on Crisp’s hit to center. GHS led 4-0 after Grizzle’s base hit to left. West Hall’s only run came in the fourth on a ground ball, and Gilmer had another big hit ready in its half of the inning.
With two outs and the bases loaded, Berry showed off his power, and his grand slam gave GHS a healthy 8-1 lead. A double by Mel Mosley set the stage in the fifth, and he scored when West doubled to right center. The game came to a close on Gutillo’s two-run double.
Gutillo and West each had two hits.
Game three was going swimmingly for the Cats until the Spartans’ five-run sixth inning. West Hall scored in the first off a fielder’s choice.
GHS strung together four straight hits in its half. McCollum singled before Gutillo’s double. Crisp’s single to center accounted for Gilmer’s first run, and a throwing error on the play scored Gutillo as well. Berry doubled home the third run, and yet another double by Zabala moved Gilmer ahead, 4-1.
GHS put up another four spot on the scoreboard in the second. Cooper’s single was sandwiched between walks by West and McCollum. The Cats’ fifth run came when Gutillo grounded out, and Crisp’s single to right plated a sixth. Gilmer led 7-1 after Berry grounded out, and the eighth run scored on a Spartan error.
GHS left two runners stranded in scoring position in both the third and fourth innings. In the latter, the Cats plated their ninth run on Cooper’s base hit up the middle.
Trailing 9-1, WHHS scored an unearned run in the fifth. The Spartans added four hits to their tally in the sixth and accepted four walks and a hit batter to trim the Cats lead to 9-7.
Gilmer made two pitching changes in the sixth, and Crisp took the mound for the final out. He also recorded the save in the seventh and preserved Gilmer’s win.
McCollum started the game and pitched 5 1/3 innings. He surrendered six hits and six earned runs while striking out five and walking three. McClure tossed 1/3 of an inning and walked two and gave up a hit. Crisp fanned two in 1 1/3 inning.
“It got a little shaky there at the end, but Dalton was able to come in and close out the game,” Thurman said. “Thank goodness he had some pitching left as he only threw 68 pitches in the first game. We knew we had him in our back pocket in case we needed to use him. We just didn’t realize we were going to get to that point to really need him like we did.”
The series improved Gilmer’s overall record to 15-13. The Bobcats finished the season 9-9 against region opponents.
“We were real happy to get a sweep in region play. It’s something we’ve been talking to the kids about every week,” Thurman said. “At the start of region play, we talked about narrowing the gap with some scores and outcomes, and we started doing that. We wanted to start winning some series, and we started doing that. We wanted to win a big game, and we felt like we did that against Lumpkin and Wesleyan (by defeating both twice).
“Out of the six teams we played a three-game series with in our region, we won four of them. We’re real proud of our guys. It’s not easy to sweep a team in our region, no matter who you’re facing.”
Gilmer began the state tournament at Tuesday’s press deadline at Ringgold (21-6), who are the champions of Region 5.