Baseball: Elephants one win from 8-AAAAA title

GAINESVILLE -- Six days ago, the playoff race in Region 8-AAAAA was a tangled mess with five teams within three games of each other for four spots.

On Wednesday, Gainesville made the picture a little clearer.

The Class AAAAA No. 1-ranked Red Elephants moved to within one win or a Loganville or Winder-Barrow loss of clinching the region title outright after taking an 8-0 win over Flowery Branch at Ivey-Watson Field.

After pounding No. 2 Loganville with a half-dozen home runs the last two games, the Red Elephants (20-2, 12-1 Region 8-AAAAA) took advantage of early Flowery Branch mistakes to build a quick lead and then held off the Falcons behind the pitching of Chandler Newton and Hunter Anglin.

Newton went five innings scattering six hits and fanning six to get the win. Anglin pitched the final two innings yielding two hits and striking out two.

Despite being just one win from gaining home field throughout the state playoffs, Gainesville coach Jeremy Kemp said they haven't talked beyond Thursday's rematch with the Falcons.

The two teams moved up the second of their home-and-home series to Thursday instead of Friday at Hog Mountain Sports Complex in anticipation of bad weather moving in over the weekend. First pitch is slated for 5:55 p.m.

"We just take things one at a time. If we're able to get a win tomorrow maybe we'll talk about it then," Kemp said. "There are four teams in this region that can beat anyone so nothing is a given."

The loss was big for the Falcons (13-9, 8-5) who are battling Apalachee, Loganville, and Winder-Barrow for one of the other three playoff spots.

"We didn't seem quite ready to play at the start and that cost us," Flowery Branch coach Scott Meyers said. "If we get the run in the first inning that would have settled us down. Now we have to find a way to beat (Gainesville) tomorrow or it could get tough."

Brad Keller pitched well for the Falcons despite giving up eight runs in 5 2/3 innings. Only three were earned and his defense let him down with three huge errors in the first inning that led to four unearned runs for the Elephants. He settled down after the rough first inning to retire eight straight batters and 14 of the next 16 -- six by strikeout -- heading into the sixth inning.

The Falcons had a chance to jump out on top in the first inning. Jonathan Hughes singled to lead off and moved to second on a sacrifice by Justin Seabolt. Hughes would attempt to score on a double off the glove of Gainesville's Brandon Sewell but was gunned down at the plate.

Gainesville would quickly load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first with two walks and an error. After walking, Skyler Weber would be picked off first but a run would score on Caleb Whitenton's high bouncer to third that turned into the second error of the inning. Sims Griffith and Whitenton would both score on a single to right by Anglin and a two-base error for a 3-0 lead. Anglin would score on a wild pitch by Keller to make it 4-0 after one inning.

"We have to play better defense. Gainesville is too good to make mistakes like that. I really thought Brad pitched well and deserved a better fate," Myers said.

Newton, meanwhile, pitched in and out of trouble most of the game. He got out of the first when Sewell and Maddox executed a nice relay throw to gun down Hughes at the plate to end the inning. He stranded two more runners in the second striking out Andrew Nolt with runners at second and third. In the fifth he got out of a bases loaded situation striking out Dylan Gibeau to end the inning.

"Chandler is a battler and I was proud of how he got out of some tough jams," Kemp said. "Flowery Branch can hit the ball so I thought he and Hunter did a good job of keeping them down."

The Elephants put the game away in the bottom of the sixth. Skyler Weber led off with a home run to right field and then Sewell and Maddox added RBI hits to push the lead 8-0.

Hughes finished with two hits to lead Flowery Branch. Justin Seabolt, Gibeau, Drew Miles, Keller, Stephens Skeggs, and Derek Eder each had one hit for the Falcons.

Anglin had two hits, one RBI, and scored two runs for Gainesville. Michael Gettys, Weber, Luke Moore, Sewell, and Maddox each had one hit for the Elephants. Gettys, Griffith, Weber, Whitenton, and Sewell each scored a run for Gainesville.

NOTES: A strange pollen cloud caused a nearly five-minute delay in the third inning. The pollen was blown off the trees during a wind gust. It was dense enough to block out the right fielder for about a minute...Flowery Branch had won four of its last six games before Wednesday...Gainesville pushed its win streak to a season-high 11 straight...It was the first shutout of the Falcons this season. They had scored four or more runs in all but four games before Wednesday...The Elephants have given up more than three runs in a game just once this season, a 7-2 loss to Winder-Barrow.