Gilmer High baseball has found itself in the middle of a state playoff battle.
The GHS Bobcats have played four region opponents so far, and after a 0-6 start, they have rebounded to win five of their last six games and currently sit in fifth place.
GHS met the White County Warriors last week for a three-game series. An offensive outpouring Monday in the fifth inning of game one allowed White to claim an 11-1 home win.
The teams convened in Ellijay Wednesday, and the Bobcats took care of business with a sound 6-0 victory. GHS was back on the road Friday, and the Cats took the game and series, 4-2.
GHS plated its lone run of game one in its first at-bat. Lead off hitter Branson Teague singled to center before advancing to second base on an error and to third on a fly out. He raced home on a wild pitch for a quick Bobcat lead.
Three hits loaded the bases for White in the second inning. A wild pitch evened the score, and an ensuing error gave White a 2-1 lead. A double with runners in scoring position added two more runs for WCHS in the third.
The score remained unchanged until the fifth inning. While a GHS error plated the Warriors’ fifth run, a pair of doubles added two runs each time as their lead swelled to 9-1. A two-run single brought a premature end to the game.
Teague had two hits on the day and Austin Zabala was there for three. Blake Zabala and Grant Cochran each collected a hit.
Ethan McCollum pitched four innings and allowed five hits, five earned runs, struck out five and walked five. Austin Zabala got two outs in the fifth inning and gave up three hits, a pair of earned runs and struck out one.
Gilmer wasted little time in game two and struck for four first-inning runs. Cochran pitched a shutout, and also got the Bobcats’ offense going when he ripped a RBI double down the right field line. Next up was Blake Zabala, and he crushed a two-run homer over the left center field fence.
GHS was not done yet. The Bobcats added a fourth run off Billy Goswick’s base hit to left.
Gilmer loaded the bases in the third inning when Carter Jones and Britt Taylor singled and Seth Darling walked. Teague flew out to right for Gilmer’s fifth run.
Austin Zabala and Blake Zabala set the stage in the fourth inning with infield hits. They both moved up a base on McCollum’s sacrifice bunt, and Gilmer tacked on its sixth and final run when Jones grounded out to second base.
Austin Zabala, Blake Zabala, Taylor and Jones all had two hits apiece. Cochran struck out seven, walked five and gave up four hits.
WCHS scored its runs in the first two innings of game three while the Bobcats waited until the final two innings for their offense to come alive.
HS pitcher Darling went seven innings and allowed six hits, two earned runs and struck out 12 Warriors.
A two-out double scored a run for White in the first. In their next at-bat, they knocked in a run from second base with a hit to left field.
White held on to its 2-0 lead until the sixth inning. Teague got Gilmer’s offense going with a leadoff double and scored on Blake Zabala’s infield hit. Following base hits by Austin Zabala and McCollum, Goswick singled to right. The hit tied the score, and a Warrior error moved GHS ahead, 3-2.
The Cats added an insurance run in the seventh when McCollum drew a bases loaded walk. WCHS advanced a runner into scoring position in its last at-bat but could not cut into Gilmer’s lead.
Blake Zabala and Cochran each had two hits on the day.
The Bobcats are 10-10 overall and started its weekly series Monday at Dawson County and lost, 10-0. Game two will be Thursday in Ellijay and game three will be in Dawson County. All games are scheduled to start at 5:55 p.m.