LAWRENCEVILLE -- Gainesville baseball coach Jeremy Kemp was hoping to come away from Saturday's High School Showcase Series matchup with Buford at Coolray Field with a little better feeling.
"It was a great atmosphere with great pitching in a great ballpark," said Kemp, whose Red Elephants were participating in the annual event for the first time. "But it could've been better."
The big downer was a frustrating 2-0 loss to the Class AAAA No. 1-ranked Wolves.
Gainesville (8-2) stranded eight baserunners, six in scoring position, and went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position for the game. Buford pitchers Jake Higginbotham (Clemson-signee) and Connor Bennett (West Virginia-signee) combined to fan 15 Gainesville batters and allowed just two hits.
"(Higginbotham and Bennett) were tough and we knew whoever Buford put out there would be," Kemp said. "But a couple of times all we needed was a ground ball to score a run. The key was that we were not good in situational hitting. Against great teams like that you have to do the little things and take advantage of what few mistakes they give you. We didn't and they did."
Gainesville's Jonathan Gettys matched Higginbotham inning-for-inning through four with five strikeouts. But Buford (11-1) took advantage of its first real opportunity in the bottom of the third. Austin Wilhite coaxed a two-out walk and then moved to second on a wild pitch by Gettys. Georgia Tech-signee Joey Bart made Gettys pay stroking a single to center driving in Wilhite for a 1-0 lead. That proved to be enough.
"I got a pitch I could hit and it got through," Bart said. "It's fun going against great pitchers like that."
"Gettys was tough but we were able to get just enough offense," Buford coach Tony Wolfe said. "We knew runs would be tough to come by with the pitching both teams have."
"That was the biggest hit of the game and it was the first big at-bat for them and they got it done," Kemp said. "It was probably the only shaky pitch Jonathan threw but give their guy credit, he got the big hit when they needed it."
However, Buford was just 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position for the game. The Wolves second run was in the fifth and came on a throwing error by Gainesville reliever Mikey Gonzalez's pick-off attempt at second with the bases loaded that allowed a run to score.
Higginbotham walked five but ended four of his five innings with strikeouts with runners in scoring position. He fanned 10 and gave up both Gainesville hits in five-plus innings to get the win.
"Jake didn't have his best fastball but was special against the middle of their order," Wolfe said. "He got out of a couple of tough jams with some great pitches."
The Red Elephants made Higginbotham work in the top of the first. Anthony Carrera sliced a one-out double down the left field line but Higginbotham sandwiched a pair strikeouts around a two-out walk to Caleb Whitenton to get out of the inning. Higginbotham fanned both Michael Curry and Gettys on three pitches.
Buford got a pair of runners on in the bottom of the first on two walks by Gettys but Griffin Jolliff flied out to center to end the inning. Both pitchers then cruised through the second inning.
Gainesville had a golden chance to strike first in the top of the third when Fedrick Cardona and Carrerra both walked to lead off the inning. Cardona swiped third and Carrera stole second one batter later to put two more runners in scoring position. But Higginbotham struck out Curry, Whitenton, and Gettys to get out of the jam. The Red Elephants stranded five runners, four in scoring position, through the first three innings.
Gainesville again got another runner in scoring position with a two-out double to left by Gonzalez in the fourth. But Higginbotham induced Jack Langford into a ground out to short to end the inning. It was the sixth stranded runner for the Red Elephants through four innings, five in scoring position.
Gettys would get his second 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fourth and Higginbotham got his only perfect inning in the top of the fifth, including a third strikeout of Curry.
Higginbotham was able to handle the middle of the Red Elephants order getting the Nos. 3-5 hitters to go just 0-for-7 with six strikeouts and one walk.
Conversely, the Nos. 2-4 batters for Buford were 2-for-6 with three walks, one hit, one RBI, and one run scored.
Buford would knock Gettys out with a pair of walks to open the fifth inning. Gonzalez, who relieved Gettys, was able to get out of a bases loaded jam with just the one run scored to keep Gainesvilel within striking distance trailing just 2-0.
The Red Elephants had another solid chance to breakthrough in the top of the sixth when Higginbotham walked Whitenton to lead off the inning and then Gettys reached on an error to put two runners on with no one out. Higginbotham was relieved by Connor Bennett, who struck out two, including Gonzalez, to end the inning without allowing a run to score.
Bennett pitched the final two innings striking out five of the six batters he faced.
Gonzalez kept Gainesville within striking distance going two innings scattering three hits but allowing no runs.
Buford next will travel to Mountain View on Tuesday in another non-region contest.
Gainesville next will play host to Clarke Central on Monday in a Region 8-AAAAA matchup.
Sunday
January 26th, 2025
1:49AM
