The Gilmer High Bobcats took the field for a home baseball game before making their way to coastal Georgia for a pair of Saturday games.
The Cats were defeated by Union County and Fitzgerald while topping Long County.
Union made short work of the Bobcats Wednesday. The Panthers’ 10-0 advantage through five innings led to the game being called because of run differential.
The Panthers loaded the bases in the first inning and scored on a sacrifice fly. A double play allowed GHS to limit the damage. In the third, a UCHS single and one-out double plated the Panthers’ next run.
With two outs and a pair of runners in scoring position in the fourth, a single made the score 4-0. A base hit, walk and error extended Union’s lead to 6-0.
Three base hits and a double put GHS behind by nine runs in the fifth. A walk and single scored a 10th run.
Gilmer scattered four hits on the day, which were collected by Blake Zabala, Jess Buckner, Zach Miller and Seth Darling.
Pitching: B. Zabala (L) 3 2/3 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 1 K, 3 BB. B. Teague 2/3 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 K, 2 BB. Z. Miller 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 K, 1 BB.
Gilmer was in Brunswick Saturday for Baseball at the Beach and played a pair of games. GHS first took the field versus Fitzgerald High. Gilmer’s late-inning rally fell short, and the Bobcats were defeated, 8-4.
GHS was under the lights for its game against Long County. The low-scoring affair saw the Bobcats come away with a 3-1 victory.
The Cats got a quick run against Fitzgerald. Zabala walked to lead off the game and was replaced on the base paths by Spenser Smith, who advanced to third with two outs and scored on a passed ball. It would be Gilmer’s only run until the sixth inning.
FHS had seven hits on the day and scored three runs in the third and four more in the fifth.
They benefited from four GHS errors, which led to three unearned runs.
“We didn’t catch the ball very well at all,” coach Jeff Thurman said. “We misjudged balls in the outfield and didn’t catch it very well on the infield either. We were out of sorts defensively. We were fortunate we pitched well enough to give ourselves a decent chance. We need some guys to step up and hit when we have runners in scoring position, and we’re not always getting that right now.”
For the Cats, it came down to missed opportunities. While GHS had nine hits on the day, timely hits eluded the Cats as they left six base runners stranded in scoring position.
Down 7-1, GHS got three runs backs in the sixth inning. Branson Teague, Spencer Merritt and Tyler Wright strung together three straight hits. Teague and Merritt scored when Zabala flew out, and added their fourth run when Buckner singled to center.
Fitzgerald plated its final run in the bottom half of the inning.
Buckner and Teague both had two hits for GHS. Gabe Wolfson, Jace McClure, Merritt, Wright and Grant Cochran all collected one hit apiece.
Pitching: S. Darling (L), 4 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 4 K, 3 BB. J. Rhodes 2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 K, 2 BB.
“We pitched well enough to give us a chance in that game,” said Thurman. “Seth threw four innings, which was good to see because we’ll be relying on him pretty heavily this year.
“We brought in Jake Rhodes in relief, and he did a good job and was commanding his pitches really well. That was good to see because he’s not 100 percent (medically) cleared. He’s cleared to pitch and play defense, but he’s still not cleared to swing a bat. His bat is what we’re really missing right now in our lineup.”
Buckner tossed a complete game versus Long County. He limited the Blue Tide to five hits, and they scored their only run in the bottom of the first inning.
All of Gilmer’s runs came in the third and were unearned. A wild pitch scored courtesy runner Smith, who replaced Buckner after he led off the inning with a single. Wolfson also reached on an error and was replaced by courtesy runner Sam Davis, who later scored on a throwing error. A sacrifice bunt by Wright tallied Gilmer’s third and final run.
Neither team scored over the final 3 1/2 innings, and Gilmer notched its second win of the season.
Buckner had the Cats’ only two hits offensively to go along with six strikeouts and two walks on the mound.
“Jess pitched a complete game and threw 108 pitches,” Thurman noted. “We typically wouldn’t have rolled him out there for this many pitches this early in the season, but he seemed like he got stronger as the game went along and he felt good. At this point, this is about the best I’ve ever seen him pitch. That’s a good sign, and I hope he’s going to have some more outings like that. The last two outings he’s pitched, we’ve won.
“I felt like we really needed a win to pick our spirits up a little bit to give us some confidence heading into this week.”
Gilmer is 2-4 overall and will play three games this week.
“I’m happy with the win versus Long County and excited to see how we come off that,” Thurman said. “Overall, it was a really good trip for us. We go down there to try and get in some warm weather baseball, have some team bonding time and really just to get out of our element and comfort zone.”
GHS hosted Coosa at Tuesday’s press deadline. The Cats will travel to Darlington for a 4 p.m. game Wednesday and make their way to Fannin Friday for a game at 5:30 p.m.