Gainesville's Win Streak Comes to an End by Eric Edmonson

Cartersville, GA

Gainesville entered Friday's game with an eight-game win streak to maintain, and unfortunately for the Gol'Diggers the lineup had a bad night and overall an unlucky evening. It is worth noting that, like many nights this season, this game was affected by weather. About an hour prior to the first pitch, there was lightning in the area that would delay the game an hour, setting up an 8:00 pm first pitch and turning the game from a typical nine-inning game to a seven-inning game.

While it looked as though the bats might be picking up right where they left off from their last series, some of those good swings found gloves in the field, and Gainesville came up unlucky. That is the best way to describe the offense from Friday's game. The lineup hit the ball well, and ordinarily those balls would fall, but Cartersville was able to flash good leather and keep Gainesville off the board.

With this result it can be easy to blame the approach, but this same aggressive approach is what led Gainesville to score 67 runs during their win streak and hold a lofty +34 run differential.

Wyatt Dodgens got the ball for the Gol'Diggers, and the GGC righty looked dominant for Gainesville as he and Cartersville's pitcher Barfield traded zeros through four innings. As mentioned previously, the offense was unable to string anything together for Gainesville, and it was quite similar for Cartersville, as there was a pitching duel brewing going into the bottom of the fifth. Heading into that inning, Dodgens was twirling a gem, collecting seven strikeouts and allowing no runs across four innings. In the fifth, things began to slip away from the righty, and this would spell the rest of the night for the Gol'Diggers. A pair of walks allowed by Dodgens and a fateful bunt single loaded the bases for the Cannons. In an attempt to settle the game, Gainesville turned to Tyler Zawacki, but the Cannons had the momentum, and it continued to swing their way as they rallied for seven runs in the bottom of the fifth.

While seven runs is a blemish to say the least, the pitching wasn't the only focal point of the inning, as Gainesville had some head-scratching errors that paved the way to more Cartesville offense.

Losses happen and are going to happen, and this was one Gainesville could afford. They still sit second in the standings and still have one of the best offenses in the SBL. The most important factor of this loss is the pitching utilized. Gainesville only used one of their high-leverage arms out of the pen last evening, going with Harper Davenport and Hixon Rumph the rest of the way, which saved some arms for the quick turnaround this evening. You can also look at the positive that the one inning harbored mistakes that a team doesn't make twice and mistakes that a team like Gainesville will use as a learning experience. Gainesville looks to bounce back this evening against Cartersville with a 7:05 first pitch.

Gainesville is 13-5.

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