MT. AIRY — Coming off a frustrating sweep at the hands of Winder-Barrow, the Gainesville baseball team exploded Monday night in its Region 8-AAAAAA matchup against host Habersham Central.
The Red Elephants offense exploded for 17 hits in an 18-2 victory in four innings over the Raiders.
Charlie Wall led Gainesville (11-6, 1-3 Region 8-AAAAAA) with two hits and three RBI. Banks Griffith had three hits and two RBI and AJ Smallwood had a hit and three RBI for the Red Elephants. Jared Smith had two hits and two RBI, Cale Conley had a double and drove in one run, and Ross Tipton and Cameron Wilson each had two hits for Gainesville.
Smith pitched two innings allowing one run to get the win on the mound for Gainesville. Adam Benefield pitched the fnal two innings giving up just one run. The pair surrendered just three hits.
Gainesville opened with a big seven-run first inning and extended its lead to 9-0 in the second. Habersham Central (13-6, 3-1) cut it to 9-1 in the bottom of the second but the Red Elephants pushed the lead to 15-1 with a six-run thid. The Raiders scored a run in the bottom of the third but Gainesville added three more in the fourth.
The two teams will resume their three-game series on Wednesday at Ivey-Watson. First pitch is scheduled for 5:55 p.m.
