Gainesville Drops Series Opener Against Alpharetta by Eric Edmonson

Alpharetta, GA

Gainesville came into Monday night's game looking to bounce back after a rough showing against the Cannons over the weekend, but while the offense broke the shutout streak with help from a returning Adrian Jimenez, they couldn't overcome a two-run lead by the Aviators.

The Gol'Diggers looked to patch together a bullpen game, and after three innings from their starter allowing five, Pierce Juhan came in and did a good job to shut down the Aviators, allowing just one run across his 2⅔ innings of work while picking up three strikeouts. Daniel Machado would come in after him and hold the Aviators scoreless for the rest of the game, but the damage was done. A three-run fourth inning propelled the Aviators to their eventual 6-4 win.

The offense, which has been the main topic about this team over the past week, both positive and negative, showed signs of life on Monday. After the sleepy first three innings, Gainesville turned the lineup over, and the rally started. Three came across to score the first off of an opposite field hard-hit single by Samuel Bradley, but soon after the offensive well dried up, and Gainesville was only able to push across one more run.

While short-lived, it was refreshing to see the Gol'Diggers offense churn once again, and it continues to prove that when the top of the order is producing and getting on base, the contact that they flash is top class. Mentioned last week was the team's trouble with strikeouts, and now they have come back to haunt the squad. All things considered, this is a good lesson for the team to go through to help solidify their identity. However, it is unfortunate that it comes in the last week of the regular season and a week ahead of the SBL playoffs.

The squad looks to bring back tenacity to the lineup as they have a huge week ahead with the second game in Alpharetta and then a three-game set over the weekend in Chocolocco, including a double header on Friday evening. At the moment, Gainesville now sits in third place behind the Cannons, and after losing the series to them over the weekend, Cartersville owns the tiebreaker.

The SBL playoffs are set to start the Monday after the conclusion of the regular season. The top two teams in the league receive a first-round bye, with all series being decided as a best two out of three. However, the quirk with the SBL playoffs is that the top seed in the best-of-three series only has to win one game before moving on to the next round.

The Gol'Diggers look to climb back into the top-seeded spots with four games left to play this week against tough competition.

Gainesville is 13-7

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