FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — In a battle for first place in Region 8-3A, Cherokee Bluff took the first game of the series 14-5 over Jefferson at Bluff Ballpark on Tuesday.
The Bears (11-8, 7-0 Region 8-3A) used a seven-run fourth inning to take the lead. The teams continue the three-game series with a doubleheader Friday at Jefferson.
Down 4-3 in the fourth inning, the Bears pieced together four hits and four walks to take a 10-4 lead. The Bears had good at-bats throughout the rally against Jefferson starter Eston Simpson, a Clemson commit.
“I thought our guys did a great job of making their starter (Eston Simpson) work and throw pitches,” Cherokee Bluff coach Jeremy Kemp said. “We got a lot of pitches out of him. With every single at-bat, we were fighting and getting pitches out of him.”
Landon Kemp had one of those at-bats. After fouling off several pitches, his two-run single gave Cherokee Bluff the lead.
The runs kept coming. Ethan Johnson scored on a wild pitch, then Ethan England, Bubba Coleman, and Bryce Fontenot followed with run-scoring singles.
Kemp, who had two hits and four runs batted in, drove in a run in the fifth with a single and one in the sixth with a sacrifice fly. Coleman had two hits and three RBIs. Beau Bruns added a key two-run homer in the second inning after the Bears fell behind 3-2.
The Bears got a very gutty performance from starting pitcher Gabe Gowder, who pitched 5 1/3 innings, striking out eight and allowing six hits. After a rough second inning, he kept the Bears in the game until they rallied.
“That defines Gabe, what you just saw,” Kemp said. “Things not going his way, and he keeps fighting and keeps pitching. He could have very easily packed it in after the three-run homerun, but he didn’t.”
Steven Tavares drove in all five runs for Jefferson (10-10, 5-2). He hit a three-run homer in the second and knocked in two more runs with a single and a sacrifice fly.
The Bears extended their winning streak to seven games. After playing a tough early out-of-region schedule, Cherokee Bluff is playing its best ball of the season.
“We are a young team and we played a very difficult schedule,” Kemp said. “Every one of the teams we played in the preseason has a great record, and I’ll be shocked if any of them don’t make the playoffs. They are all playoff-caliber teams. That’s what you have to do. You are going to get your losses in one way or the other, so you better get them in early than late. We played as tough a schedule as we can play, and we did a lot of great things early on.”
