Gainesville Wins Seventh Game Behind Opportunistic Offense by Eric Edmonson

Buford, GA

Gainesville has sported a very potent top half of the lineup but has struggled at times to put together rallies, but in game one gainst the Crackers, it was the bottom of the lineup that got things started. After a Hunter Stonecipher double and a Grayson McCollum single, Harper Davenport came through with a bases-clearing double to give the Gol'Diggers the lead. While the lineup was doing work to gain an early lead, UGA's Justin Byrd was dealing on the other side of the scorecard. Byrd found himself with traffic throughout his outing but was able to to work through it while flashing a dazzling slider that kept the Crackers off balance. Byrd finished with a final line of: 4IP/4H/5Ks/0R.

While Byrd finished a dominant-looking outing, the offense backed him up, scoring three in the fourth and one in each of the fifth and the sixth to go up seven to nothing. Gainesville's Stiles Begnaud came on in relief of Byrd and worked a scoreless fifth before the Crackers began breaking through in the bottom of the sixth for a three-spot of their own. The trend would continue for the Crackers as Daniel Machado entered the game for the Gol'Diggers and Atlanta put three more on the board. By the top of the ninth inning, the Gol'Diggers led 10-6 as the Crackers' Braxton Brooks came on to pitch. Brooks struggled with command leaving the door open for a big inning for Gainesville in which they scored four times to widen the lead to 14-6. Entering the bottom of the ninth, it was Daniel Machado who was tasked to end the game for Gainesville, but unfortunately, he couldn't cleanly close the door. With the bases loaded and one away. Tyler Zawacki was called upon for Gainesville to get the dangerous Kaleb Huffman. Zawacki was able to get Huffman looking on an outside pitch to the lefty and on the next batter got a lazy pop up to Jacob Bohacek to lock-up a 14-7 victory for the Gol'Diggers

Gainesville picks up their seventh win as they look to gain momentum before the upcoming SBL break. The team has shown flashes of a great offense but looks for consistency throughout the lineup, and while the team has found strong starting pitching the middle of the bullpen is still finding its footing as we enter the halfway point of the season. Gainesville travels back to Seckinger Field on Wednesday, June 25th, to finish their road trip before going back home to Katterjohn Field to face off against the SBL-leading Canons.

Gainesville is 7-4.