MACON - The Gatewood Gators won their second consecutive GIAA state championship on Monday after a thrilling three-game series, which ended with a 6-0 shutout victory over Edmund Burke Academy at Tattnall Square Academy.
The Gators’ victory came behind five shutout innings from starting pitcher Lawson Moore, who struck out 11 batters while allowing just four hits and walking only two batters. The flame-throwing eighth-grader had an outstanding game three in the state championship series and what his head coach called “an outstanding season.”
“Obviously, you can’t say enough,” coach Brandon Moss said. “Everybody’s gonna look at that kid (Moore) and see that he threw five innings and struck out however many he struck out. He’s an outstanding pitcher, but nobody knows what he’s been dealing with for the last week with an oblique strain and not being able to even walk.
“And then he shows up Friday, and he’s like, ‘Coach, I think I might be able to throw if we go to Monday.’ And then you’re just working him through and just holding out a little bit of hope,” Moss continued. “That’s called heart, and he and his brother (Wilson Moore) are full of it. I just can’t say how proud I am of him.”
Moore started game three by striking out the first two Spartans he faced in the top of the first inning. He gave up a base hit and allowed a walk, but then struck out the fifth batter to end the inning.
The Gators’ bats started cold in the bottom of the first inning but after Moore retired the side in the top of the second on three straight swinging strikeouts, Gatewood took its first lead of the afternoon and never looked back. With the bases loaded, Caleb Riser hit a double in the left field gap to score Lawson Wooten and John Wallace Thompson to give the Gators a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the third, the Gators again loaded the bases, and Wooten scored a run after being hit by a pitch. A balk called on the EBA pitcher scored another Gators’ run before a Jayden Moss groundout scored Ben Brannen to push Gatewood’s lead to 5-0.
Riser reached base for the second time in the game on his second double again to left field. The Gators’ sixth run came after Hunter Johnson’s sacrifice bunt advanced pinch-runner Jackson Hewatt to third, and a pop-out by Ames Johnson scored Hewatt, extending the Gators’ lead to six.
Lawson Moore went through the fourth inning unscathed. He collected three more strikeouts, leading to Wooten pitching two innings of shutout baseball to secure Gatewood’s second-straight and third state title in school history.
“Obviously, coming into this season, we had a lot of expectations on us, so you know that everybody’s gonna’ be looking at you with a target on your back,” Moss said. “But what people don’t know is that after we got back from spring break, we had guys dealing with a lot of injuries, and these guys just picked up each other where they could.
"We filled in holes where we could, we got innings from guys that we don’t normally get innings through, and then the good Lord threw us a little bit of a break here by letting this series extend to today, because before yesterday, the guy that started through five innings today was not available until today.”
Moss concluded by saying all the little things and the hard work and effort his players put into this season meant “everything” to him.