GAINESVILLE — It was the kind of effort Collier Scott and Gainesville baseball coach Jeremy Kemp have been waiting for.
And it came at the most crucial time of the season.
Scott tossed a five-hit, complete-game to help Gainesville stave off elimination and salvage a tie its Class AAAAA semifinal series with Houston County in a 2-1 victory in Game 2 Monday at Ivey-Watson Field.
Scott said the key was something that had been missing his last few starts.
“My curveball was really on tonight and that’s something I haven’t been able to throw for a while,” he said. “I just tried to throw strikes and give us a chance to win.”
It was a must-have effort after the Red Elephants (29-6) dropped Game 1 to the Bears (27-8) 9-4 after a disastrous five-run second inning aided by two huge Gainesville errors.
Scott stymied the Bears offense retiring 9 of 11 batters after allowing a first inning run and then 9 of 10 batters until a two-out rally by Houston County loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh. But he got DL Hall to ground into a fielder’s choice at second to end the game.
“I thought it was the best Collier has thrown since the Winder series,” Kemp said. “We weren’t going to take him out. We went out and told him it was his game to lose.”
Now, the Red Elephants will once again have to win a deciding Game 3 to advance. They knocked off Dalton in Game 3 in the quarterfinals last week. They are now 2-0 in the post-season when facing elimination.
First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Ivey-Watson.
“It’s going to be another good game between two good teams,” Kemp said. “The key for us will be playing good defense and throwing strikes. If we do that, we’ll be fine.”
Houston County coach Jason Brett, who guided the Bears to a Game 3 victory over Gainesville two years ago in the semifinals at Ivey-Watson, said this one could go in any direction.
“I’m not sure what to expect (Tuesday),” Brett said. “We’ll just to do what we do best. I’m just proud of our guys and how they battled all the way to the end. It should be a great game.”
The winner of Tuesday’s game will play host to the winner of the Loganville-South Effingham series starting Saturday. They also split their best-of-three series with Loganville taking the first game, 5-4, and South Effingham winning the nightcap, 5-1.
Game 1: Houston County 9, Gainesville 4
The Bears got going quickly as Blake Dawson doubled to center to lead off the game. He moved to 3rd on a flyout to center by DL Hall. After a walk to Jake Fromm, Dawson scored on a single by Tanner Hall. They pushed the lead to 2-0 on a RBI single by Dillon Strickland scoring Fromm.
Gainesville answered right back. Banks Griffith led off the Red Elephants’ first with a bouncing single to left and then moved to second on a wild pitch. Locey then walked Cardona and both moved up on a groundout to first by Carpenter. Locey uncorked his second wild pitch scoring Griffith. Collier Scott knocked in Cardona with an infield single to tie the game
But the Bears at work again in second. A one-out single then two straight Gainesville errors load the bases. Fromm and and Austin Hittinger followed with a pair of bases loaded hits and Carpenter balked in Tanner Hall in a run to make it a 7-2 lead. All five runs were unearned.
Houston County was 4-for-8 with RISP in the first two innings. They had almost as many at-bats with runners on (8) as Gainesville had total at bats through the first two frames.
Meanwhile, Locey found his groove starting in the second. He retired 12 of the next 16 batters through the fifth inning allowing just a Griffith single in the third, which was erased when Carpenter grounded into an inning-end double play. He hit a pair of Gainesville batters and walked Cardona in the fifth. He went six innings scattering three hits and allowed just the two runs to get the win.
Carpenter also settled down retiring eight straight and 10 of 12 at one point. But the fourth Gainesville error of game snapped his streak and Dawson doubled home another for an 8-2 lead. Dawson later scored after two wild pitches to make it 9-2 in the fifth. Both runs were unearned making seven of the nine runs unearned.
Noah Bond came on for Carpenter to start the sixth. Carpenter pitched better than his line (5IP, 8H, 2BB, 6K, 9R, 2ER as the defense let him down. Bond pitched around a pair of two-out walks in the sixth and retired 6 of the 8 batters he faced.
Then things got interesting as Gainesville got within one batter of getting the tying run to the plate against three Houston County hurlers in seventh inning. The Bears brought in Tyler Flewellyn start the final inning for Locey but he walked Jared Smith, Jack Langford, and Griffith to load the bases with no outs. Flewellyn was replaced by Jordan Hampton, who got Cardona to line out to short and Langford was caught off second for a double play.
But, Hampton hit Carpenter and Anthony Carrera to score Smith and Scott walked scoring Griffith to cut the lead to 9-4. Hampton was lifted for Tanner Hall, who got Faris Mance to line out to first with the bases loaded to end the game.
While the Red Elephants managed just three hits, the bottom of the order was 0-for-10 and as a team and they were just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position (RISP) for the game. The Bears had just eight hits but made them count going 5-for-11 with RISP with 6 RBI for the game.
Game 2: Gainesville 2, Houston County 1
It seemed a daunting task for the Red Elephants with Florida State-signee DL Hall taking the hill for the Bears against Scott, just a sophomore.
But the Red Elephants struck first with Cardona doubling to left with one out and Carpenter followed with a double to center scoring Cardona for a 1-0 lead just three batters in. The Bears tied it up in the bottom of the inning when Fromm doubled with two out and DL Hall knocked him in with a single to left.
Both pitchers took control the rest of the way.
Gainesville got something going in the third when Griffith and Cardona coaxed walks to open the inning. But after a double steal put runners at second and third, Hall fanned Carpenter and Carrera and got Scott on a grounder to third to get out of the jam.
Dawson beat out infield hit to start bottom of the third for Houston County but was picked off by Scott, who got Hall to line out to center and struck out Fromm on three pitches to end the inning.
In the fourth, the Red Elephants got the leadoff man on base for the second straight inning when Faris Mance reached on a infield hit and was bunted to second by A.J. Smallwood. Mance later scored on a steal of third and a throwing error on the Bears catcher to give Gainesville a 2-1 lead. They loaded the bases on a walk and infield hit but Carpenter lined out to right to end the inning.
In the fifth, Scott left a Bears’ runner stranded at second getting Langford and Dawson to line out to short to maintain the Red Elephants 2-1 lead heading to the sixth.
Hall found his groove in the middle innings retiring seven straight from the fourth to sixth innings after giving up the go-ahead run. He was replaced by Flewellyn after scattering four hits and fanning seven in six innings for the Bears.
Flewellyn, much like Game 1, ran into quick trouble in the seventh in Game 2. Griffith reached on a bunt hit and then Cardona walked with no outs. Carpenter sacrificed then up a base and Flewellyn intentionally walked Carrera to load the bases. But Flewellyn got Scott to ground into an inning-ending double play.
The seventh inning turned scary for the Red Elephants.
Houston County got the tying run to second and the series-winning run to after an infield hit Austin Langford with two outs. Dawson singled to left to load the bases but Scott was able to preserve the complete-game win getting Hall to ground into a fielder’s choice at second to end the game.
“I wanted to finish it out,” Scott said. “I was nervous when they loaded the bases. I just tried to stay focused and get the final out.”
