FAYETTEVILE -- For a group of seniors who had experienced heartbreak each of the last two years, there was only one emotion that came to mind Saturday when Keyton Gibson’s wicked slider produced a swing and miss for Whitewater’s Brandon Bell to give Buford its first baseball state title since 2011.
“It’s about time,” said Jake Higginbotham, who guided the Wolves to a 5-0 win in Game 1 with a nine-strikeout performance. “It was a great way to end our senior year.”
Gibson, who slammed the door on a Wildcats rally in a 3-1, Game 2 victory, had to pause to express himself.
“It was just amazing. I’m at a loss for words really,” Gibson said. “Just a perfect end to a perfect season.”
It was anything but perfect, however, as the Wolves had to rally from an early 1-0 deficit in the second game and fight off a spirited Whitewater rally after a shoving match at second base in the sixth inning sparked the benches for both teams to storm the field.
In the seventh, the Wildcats got the tying run to second base and their top power hitter, Bell, to the plate with a chance to tie or win the game.
Fellow senior, catcher Joey Bart, who had four hits and two RBI at the plate and handled the Wolves’ vaunted pitching staff superbly, let out big sigh of relief after Bell’s strikeout ended the game and series.
“It means so much to us,” Bart said. “We went through some ups and downs this year where we played some bad ball. But this group is a family and we just kept working.
“After we lost in the first round as sophomores coach (Tony) Wolfe said to keep working and that our time would come as seniors. It was a team effort.”
Despite now 12 state titles as a baseball and softball coach, Wolfe says it never gets old.
“It’s such a blessing each time but each one is different,” Wolfe said. “It was important for this group because they had seen their friends win titles and they had worked so hard. I’m happy for them.”
The Wolves won Game 1 behind the pitching of Higginbotham, who got the win, and Connor Bennett, who earned a save. For Higginbotham, his win had even more significance. It gave him 30 for his career, breaking the old mark held by Mark Anteny Swanson.
“Jake has been a big-game pitcher his entire career and I believe in his entire career he did not allow a run in any playoff games,” Wolfe said. “He’s just a special pitcher.”
They finished off the Wildcats in Game 2 behind Kevin Coulter, who got the win, and Gibson, who earned the save despite a heart-stopping seventh inning.
“Kevin was out for about four weeks and we’ve been bringing him along slowly but we expected him to be good and he was,” Wolfe said.
The series sweep completed a perfect 10-0 playoffs for Buford (34-2). The Wolves pitching was dominant throughout the playoffs allowing just 10 total runs.
The losses for Whitewater (29-7) were the only two at home the entire season. It also was the second straight season the Wildcats lost in the championship series. They fell to Houston County in the 2014 Class AAAAA title series.
Game 1: Buford 5, Whitewater 0
Game 1 was a rematch between Higginbotham and Whitewater’s Jake Lee from the two teams’ meeting in the second game of the season in the Georgia Gwinnett Tournament, a 1-0 Buford win.
Both pitchers worked around a nervous start. Lee, a Georgia Tech-signee, plunked Bart with two outs but got Nick Wilhite to ground out to end the inning. Higginbotham, a Clemson-signee, walked Tyler Burdette on four pitches to lead off for the Wildcats and he missed on his first six pitches overall. But he settled down to get two fly outs and then struck out J.D. Norred to get out of the inning.
“I had some butterflies at the beginning,” Higginbotham admitted. “I knew I had to just attack their hitters and I tried to do that. It wasn’t my best outing but it wasn’t my worst. Fortunately I was able help the team get a win.”
He went 5 2/3 innings striking out nine and walking five but yielded just two hits to limit any potential damage.
Lee got the Wolves in order in the second and Higginbotham worked around a lead-off single by Jabari Richards in the bottom of the second to keep the game scoreless.
In the third the Buford offense finally got to Lee with two outs. Bart knocked in Dillon Lancaster, who reached on a fielder’s choice after a Justin Glover single, for a 1-0 lead. Nick Wilhite followed with a RBI single scoring Austin Wilhite, who had singled in front of Bart, for a 2-0 lead in the third inning.
That was more than enough for Higginbotham, who got rolling after Richards’ single. The southpaw retired six in a row through the third inning, including four strikeouts. He ran into trouble to start the bottom of the fourth walking Brandon Bell and Norred with no one out. But he struck out Richards, Miles Jones, and Avery Roth to get out of the jam.
The Wolves tried to add on the in the sixth getting back-to-back singles by Ian Jenkins and Justin Glover but Lee got Lancaster to ground out to third to keep the Wildcats within distance.
Higginbotham retired seven straight after the two walks until Bell singled with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning. He would be relieved by Bennett after back-to-back walks to to Richards and Jones to load the bases. Bennett got out of the jam by getting Roth to pop up to Bart stranding all three runners.
Buford put things out of reach in the top of the seventh. Austin Wilhite and Bart singled with one out to put runners at the corners. Griffin Jolliff followed with a RBI single to left and then Caleb Moore drove in two runs with a double to center for a 5-0 lead.
Despite a pair of singles by Connor Nalley and Nick Weinstein to start the seventh and a two-out walk to Bell, Bennett earned a save striking out Norred to end the game.
The Wildcats had chances but stranded 10 runners, six in scoring position, for the game.
Buford pounded out 12 hits, led by Bart and Glover with three hits apiece.
Game 2: Buford 3, Whitewater 1
The Wildcats came out swinging against Coulter to start the second game. Burdette singled, moved to third on a double by Bell, and scored on a single by Richards. Coulter got out of the inning getting Norred to line to left to keep it a 1-0 game.
Buford threatened in the bottom of the inning as Brandon Marsh singled to lead off. But after a Austin Wilhite strikeout by Wildcats’ Game 2 starter Ethan Gillis, Bart hit into a double play to end the inning.
The Wildcats were poised to add on to their lead in the second when Roth led off with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice by Nalley. But following a Weinstein strikeout, Roth was gunned down at the plate by centerfielder Nick Wilhite to end the inning on a single by Burdette.
“That was a huge play,” Bart said. “I knew when I saw (Nick) charging he was going to throw him out. I just caught it tagged him. That turned the momentum for us.”
Buford used that to tie the game in the bottom of the second with some two-out magic. Caleb Moore walked and Jenkins followed with a scorching double to left scoring Moore from first.
The Wolves took the lead in the third scoring one run on an error and then getting a RBI double from Bart for a 3-1 lead. They were poised to blow it wide open in the fourth loading the bases with no outs. But Whitewater brought in Ben Hughlon to replace Gillis, who struck out Austin Wilhite and got Bart to ground out to short to get out of the jam and keep it a 3-1 score.
The Wildcats mounted a rally in the top of the fifth with Nalley singling to start the inning and then Burdette walking with one out to chase Coulter, who went 4 1/3 innings scattering five hits and fanning five. Gibson replaced Coulter and struck out Doanes and walked Bell to load the bases with two outs. Gibson got out of the mess striking out Jones.
In the Buford sixth, the Wildcats turned a tremendous double play when Marsh ground out to first and Glover was caught in a rundown between third and home for the second out. But Lancaster and Burdette got into a shoving match at the bag that sparked both benches to clear.
Whitewater got out of the jam and mounted a furious rally in the top of the seventh. Nalley singled and Doanes singled with two outs bringing Bell to the plate but Gibson was able to get Bell to chase a nasty breaking pitch in the dirt for the third out and capture the title.
“Keyton’s breaking pitch is nearly unhittable and with Joey able to block just about anything we felt good he could get it done,” Wolfe said. “I can’t say enough what Joey has meant to this team. His leadership in how he handles the pitchers and he was really swinging it in the playoffs. He was everything for us tonight.”
