Gatewood baseball extended their winning streak to four last week. The Gators defeated Piedmont Academy 2-1 at home on March 14, and two days later, the Gators beat the Cougars 9-5 in Monticello.
It marked Gatewood’s first Region 4-AA matchups of the season, and the Gators came out with strong pitching to start the game Tuesday with Walker Roberts striking out three batters, though he also walked two who ultimately were left stranded on base.
Regardless, Piedmont eventually got on the scoreboard first, scoring on a passed ball before Roberts would record his eighth strikeout of the game to end the top of the third inning.
Gatewood then answered in the bottom of the third with Roberts stealing home to tie things up.
The Gators finally took the 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning with a single off the bat of Ames Johnson that scored Caleb Riser from second base after an error committed by the Piedmont shortstop.
John Wallace Thompson finished off the Cougars with a pair of strikeouts in the seventh inning. Thompson threw four innings from the mound and struck out seven batters while allowing just one hit and zero runs on the way to the 2-1 final.
In game two of the home-and-home region matchup on March 16, the Gators quickly jumped out to a lead in the top of the first inning when Wilson Moore was hit by a pitch (HBP) with the bases loaded, scoring Tanner Johnson from third and keeping the bases full.
Gatewood scored again after Dylan Sinclair was also hit by a pitch and sent to first base, and then a single off the bat of Lawson Wooten scored Ames Johnson from third to give the Gators a quick 3-0 lead.
Wooten got the start on the mound for Gatewood, but things got a little rocky for him in the bottom of the first after he got himself into a bases-loaded situation with one out. A rare error by Gators shortstop Ames Johnson followed to give Piedmont the chance to make it a 3-2 contest before Wooten was able to record his first strikeout of the game to end the inning.
After a couple of innings in which the Gators gave up only two hits, the Cougars tied the game at 3 in the bottom of the fourth inning on another HBP situation with the bases loaded.
Wooten quickly bounced back by recording his second strikeout of the game to end the inning and the Gators likewise rebounded as a team in the top of the fifth by loading the bases after a pair of singles by Roberts and Wilson Moore and yet another HBP put Sinclair on base.
The Gators reclaimed the lead on a Wallace Thompson walk, scoring Roberts from third. Gatewood then extended its lead to 5-3 on a ground out that scored pinch runner Jackson Hewatt from third base.
Wilson Moore took over pitching duties in relief of starter Wooten in the bottom of the fifth and gave up a hit before recording three straight Ks to end the inning and keep the score 5-3 in the Gators’ favor.
Gatewood added to its lead in the sixth after Caleb Riser and Ames Johnson walked to give the Gators two runners before a sacrifice fly ball off the Roberts’ bat-scored Riser, who previously stole second and third bases.
Ames Johnson then scored on a wild pitch and Tanner Johnson made it home to make it an 8-3 Gators lead.
The Cougars managed one more run in each of the final two innings, but Gatewood also scored one last run of their own in the seventh inning to reach the final 9-5 score and boost the Gators to a 5-3 season record and 2-0 in region play so far.
Riser led the Gators offense with three hits and three runs scored at Piedmont, while on the mound Wooten finished with three strikeouts over four innings, Moore finished with five strikeouts and was credited with the win after 2.1 innings of work and Holden Turner recorded the final two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Gatewood will continue region play this Tuesday at home (past deadline time) when they take on Westminster Christian (1-4-1, 0-1) from Watkinsville and then head to Macon on Thursday to face First Presbyterian Day (10-5, 1-1). The Gators’ next home game will be March 28, with a 5 p.m. start for the first game of a home-and-home region series against Brentwood (2-3, 1-0).