GAINESVILLE — Collier Scott turned in perhaps his best performance of the year on the mound and Jonathan Gettys broke out of a hitting slump as Class AAAAA No. 1 Gainesville took a surprising 8-1 win over Winder-Barrow Monday at Ivey-Watson Field.
The win was surprising in the fact that both teams came in tied atop Region 8-AAAAA with identical 14-3, 11-1 region records and the Bulldoggs came into the home-and-home series riding a region-high seven-game win streak.
Scott scattered six hits, fanned five, and allowed just one run in six innings to get the win. Gettys, meanwhile, blasted a pair of solo home runs to go with a double and scored three times.
“That was probably the best Collier has looked all year and it was good to see Jonathan get back on track on offense,” Gainesville coach Jeremy Kemp said.
The victory moved the Red Elephants (15-3, 12-1) into sole possession of first place as the two team move to Winder on Wednesday. The Bulldogs (14-4, 11-2) are in a statistical tie with No. 4 Loganville for second. Winder-Barrow will take on the Red Devils in two weeks.
“We are in about as good a situation as we can be in right now,” Kemp said. “But we still need to go over (to Winder) and try and win that one. A loss and we’re right back where we started.”
Winder-Barrow coach Brian Smith said they are still right in the middle of things despite Monday’s setback. However, they are expecting to face Gainesville left-hander and LSU-signee Gettys on the mound.
“Things didn’t click for us (Monday) but we can get back into it with a win on Wednesday,” Smith said. “Gettys is tough but everyone is beatable. We just need to get back to playing our style.”
Scott worked out of an early jam in the first when the Bulldoggs put runners at first and second with one out. But Scott struck out Will Hardigree and got Trent Maddox to ground out to end the inning.
Gainesville answered taking a quick lead in the first off Winder-Barrow starter Daniel Buice when Banks Griffith walked to lead off and later scored on a bloop, wind-aided double by Anthony Carrera for a 1-0 lead. The Red Elephants made it 2-0 in the bottom of the second on a solo home run by Gettys.
Scott settled down into the fourth retiring seven of the next eight Bulldogg batters until Winder’s Zack Smith singled with two out. Casey Thurmond followed with a single to right but Smith was gunned down at third by Noah Bond to end the inning.
Gettys added to Gainesville’s lead in the fourth blasting his second solo home run of the game to make it a 3-0 advantage.
The Bulldogs’ Beau Hanna got them on the board with a RBI triple for Winder to cut lead to 3-1 in the fifth. They brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the sixth after a pair of walks and a wild pitch and passed ball put runners at the corners with two out. But Scott got Darrell Woodall to ground out to end the threat.
Buice kept the Bulldoggs within striking distance into the sixth but was replaced by Skyler Murphy after a Faris Mance single to lead off. The Red Elephants took advantage.
Murphy did not record an out as five straight Gainesville batters reached. Gettys doubled and Jared Smith and Charlie Wall followed with RBI singles to push the lead to 5-1. Smith later scored on an error to make it 6-1. Griffith put the game out of reach with a two-run single to make it 8-1. Murphy was replaced by Darrell Woodall, who was able to get out the inning with no further damage.
Jack Langford pitched the seventh for Gainesville getting the Bulldoggs in order, closing out the game with a pair of strikeouts.
NOTES: Winder-Barrow came into the game as the highest scoring team in 8-AAAAA play averaging 8.0 runs a game. The Bulldoggs had allowed just 23 runs in their first 12 region games until Monday. ... Gainesville has allowed the fewest runs in region play (21, 1.62 rpg).
