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By: Dylan Pierce and Trach Kercsmar
The Santa Fe Raiders and Bowdon Red Devils (GA) faced off Tuesday in a non-district matchup. The Red Devils were finishing up its spring break swing in Alachua County. After dropping their last game to Gainesville High, the Red Devils were looking forward to ending their trip victorious.
Second Inning
After a scoreless first inning, both teams looked to break the tie in the second. The Raiders defense continued its dominance in the top of the second behind pitcher Dylan Evans. The Raiders were next up to hit, and would end up scoring only one. Dylan Lovelace’s hit would bring in Dalton Dampier to score the only run in the game.
Raiders on the Mound
The duo of Dampier and Dylan Evans rolled through the Bowdon batters. Dampier and Evans each stuck-out five batters and only surrendered two hits throughout the game. Evans started the game for the Raiders and would pitch a total of five innings up until Dampier came on in relief. The duo would only need 79 pitches to shutout the Red Devils.
Top of the third (Bowden) — Pitching for Santa Fe (#5). #11 hit into double play.
— Isabella Mascioli (@isamascioli23) April 4, 2023
Complete Game Pitching Performance
The Raiders were not the only team with dominant pitching. Bowdon’s starter Will Huggins pitched a complete game, giving up just two hits and one earned run. He struck out nine Santa Fe batters and forced weak contact, allowing his defense to get easy outs. Unfortunately for Huggins, the Red Devils’ offense was unable to score, and the sole run he gave up was the difference in the game.
Struggle to Get on Base
After the only run of the game in the bottom of the second, there were just five total baserunners for the rest of the game. Many of them came with two outs in each inning, making it hard to get a rally started for either team. There is no doubt that the great pitching from both sides contributed to the offensive struggles.
Santa Fe’s record improveed to 11-4, and they look ahead to their next matchup against First Coast (Jacksonville) on Thursday.
The Red Devils ended their Spring Break trip in the Sunshine State with a record of 0-2, and drop their overall record to 12-9.
