GAINESVILLE — After a shaky start to the Region 8-6A schedule last week, Gainesville may just be ready to turn the corner.
The Red Elephants won their second consecutive game Monday with an 8-0 victory over Habersham Central at Ivey-Watson Field getting a solid mound effort from Collier Scott (CG, three hits, six strikeouts, no runs) and opportunistic offense as they went a blistering 6-of-9 with runners-in-scoring-position with six RBI.
All of the damage came in the fifth and sixth innings as Gainesville blew open a scoreless tie after Scott (5-0) and Habersham starter Payton Irvin were locked in a pitcher’s duel.
Gainesville coach Jeremy Kemp said a few tweeks and a couple of breaks now have them back in the region race (11-6, 2-2 Region 8-6A). The loss snapped Habersham’s (10-5, 2-2) two game win streak.
“This was a big game for us,” Kemp said. “All six teams are pretty close. Habersham won its series last week but Apalachee is much-improved and took a game off them. We had three close games with Winder. Every game is going to be tough and every win is huge right now.
“We caught a couple of breaks [in a 6-4 win over Winder-Barrow] on Friday and I think that helped us kind of settle down some for today. Collier was awesome and he’s given us a quality start every time out so far. We tried a few different things (on offense) in the fifth to try and get something going and it worked.”
In the fifth, Cameron Wilson, Banks Griffith, and Scott had back-to-back-to-back infield singles, including a pair of perfectly placed bunts, to load the bases to open the inning. Wilson scored on a wild pitch and then after a walk to Jared Smith to reload the bases, Irvin fanned Chalie Wall before plunking Jackson Kemp to drive in a run. Cale Conley followed with a two-run double and Dalton Kyle knocked in Conley with a single to left for a 5-0 lead.
Gainesville kept up the assault in the sixth as Wilson and Griffith both reached to open the inning chasing Irvin, who went five-plus innings allowing seven runs on nine hits.
The Raiders brought in Peyton Lewallen in relief and the Red Elephants greeted him rudely as Scott singled in a run and Smith doubled in two more to push the lead to 8-0.
Meanwhile, Scott took control in the fourth after the Raiders’ Dalton Munroe and Hunter Ingle got back-to-back one-out singles. Scott induced consecutive fielder’s choice groundouts to get out of the jam and went on to retire 10 of the last 11 Habersham hitters to close out the game.
“The pitching is getting where we want it,” Kemp said. “(Kyle) York and Banks threw well on Friday I feel like we’re getting better and better as we go along.”
Scott started strong getting the Raiders in order in the first and then starting a lineout double play in the second. He faced the minimum through the first three innings.
The Gainesville offense had a chance early loading the bases in the bottom of the first with a pair of two out walks and an infield single. But Conley grounded to third to end the inning.
Irvin then settled down as well retiring 10 of the next 12 Red Elephants batters through the fourth to keep it a scoreless tie. But he couldn’t get out of the fifth.
The two teams’ will resume their three-game series on Wednesday in Mount Airy before returning to Ivey-Watson on Friday.
