Heading into the 2025 season, the Gatewood Gators are coming off consecutive state championships, and their focus has turned to securing a third-straight state title under head coach Brandon Moss.
Gatewood endured a long, tough road to last year’s title, but this season, the Gators will face their toughest test yet. They also follow in the footsteps of what Moss considers Gatewood’s most talented team ever — so far.
“I’m super excited to see what this group can accomplish, both as individuals and as a team. I think this will be the best team talent-wise that this program has ever seen. That’s why the schedule is what it is,” the fifth-year head coach stated, alluding to facing tougher competition following each success.
The Gators got off to a good start in the first week of the season, winning 4-0 over Tallulah Falls last Thursday at home in Eatonton. The team will play at home this week on Tuesday (past press time) against Westfield and again on Thursday against Hartselle, out of Alabama.
Gatewood will then travel from Eatonton to Hoover, Alabama, on Friday, Feb. 28, to participate in the annual Perfect Game High School Showdown.
Many consider the all-weekend high school tournament to be the premier high school baseball tournament in the country. Programs like IMG Academy (Fla.), Loganville (Ga.), and Parkview (Ga.), among many others, join the Gators to compete in the tournament.
Gatewood is one of the smallest schools in the tournament, but Moss expressed confidence in his team's ability to compete with any school entered.
“They are excited,” Moss stated of his players. “They are competitors. They know that small programs like ours don’t get this opportunity often. They also know the purpose of an early season tournament like this. It’s to win, first and foremost, but aside from that, it’s to compete and learn so that by the time May comes around, they are locked in and ready to go. The goal is always to win. But you also have longer-term goals that you achieve through failure and growth, and ultimately, the only thing that will determine a successful season, wins and losses wise, is being the last team standing in May.”
Moss added that the Gators earned the opportunity to play in this tournament through their hard work and performance on the field.
As for the players, Gatewood has several familiar names returning to the diamond this season, including Ames Johnson, Hunter Johnson, Wilson Moore, Walker Roberts, and John Wallace Thompson in the starting lineup for their senior year. They’re also all third-year starters.
Others, such as junior Ben Brannen and freshmen Connor Mitchem, Lawson Moore, and Jayden Moss, are expected to either start or be major contributors in 2025. Both Lawson Moore and Jayden Moss were standouts among underclassmen after impressive eighth-grade campaigns on the varsity team last season.
Moore was the starting pitcher for the Gators in game three of last year’s championship series, where he struck out 11 batters in five innings en route to a 6-0 Gatewood victory.
“I don’t like cliches, but it holds true that no one expects more out of us than we do ourselves,” the coach said. “For anyone who wants to know how we plan to prepare for a run at a threepeat, they can look no further than our schedule. Our non-region schedule is an absolute gauntlet that will hopefully expose every single weakness we have so that we can address it before playoffs come.
“To put it plainly, there’s not a team in the country — and yes, I said ‘country’ — that I wouldn’t put us up against and expect us to compete.”
Moss emphasized that he said he believes Gatewood “can compete with anyone in the country.”
The Gators will face Alabama’s Hartselle Tigers in the first round of the white bracket for the Perfect Game High School Showdown, to be played at the Hoover Met Complex.