By Hailey Livesay and Raegan Churi
The Buchholz Bobcats baseball team defeated the Gainesville Hurricanes 15-1 on Friday at Gainesville High School.
An Early Lead
Buchholz’s bats were on fire. It seemed almost impossible for the Bobcats (13-6) to not get a hit. Once on base, they were active runners, stealing bases close to every at-bat. They had five stolen bases in four innings.
An overthrow at second base allowed Buchholz’s Conner Brown to make it all the way to third while scoring JJ Gardner.
Buchholz didn’t allow any runs, as the first inning came to a close with the Bobcats leading 4-0.
‼️SCORE UPDATE‼️
The combination of Buchholz’s perfect defense and impressive offense allows them to lead the Hurricanes 4-0
4-0 Bobcats #baseball #BuchholzHS #GainesvilleHS #highschoolsports #highschoolbaseball pic.twitter.com/2CzusQRllD
— Raegan Churi (@raegan_churi) April 12, 2024
Pitching Prowess
Buchholz’s Anthony Wilkie was one of the key players of the game with five strikeouts. Wilkie is a dependable player, seeming to always have control of the mound. Next year, he’ll play at Clemson University as a scholarship signee.
Wilkie allowed just two hits and one run in his four innings, while striking out five.
‼️SCORE UPDATE‼️
Buchholz can’t be stopped offensively or on the mound. Anthony Willkie, the starting pitcher, has 3 strikeouts and has only allowed 3 hits going into the fourth inning.
13-1 Bobcats#BuchholzHS #GainesvilleHS #baseball #highschoolsports #pitching #Gainesville pic.twitter.com/ZzgtB1usuZ
— Raegan Churi (@raegan_churi) April 13, 2024
Increasing Lead
Heading into the last inning, Buchholz ran away with the lead. Holding Gainesville (6-12) at only one run, the Bobcats increased their lead, scoring 11 more runs. Eventually, after five innings, the run rule went into effect and the game ended early.
Cedaris Smith led BHS by driving in four runs on two hits. Hudson Sapp and Noah Hayse also had two of the Bobcats’ 13 hits.
Buchholz dominated GHS in the two-game series, winning Wednesday’s game 11-1.
Up Next
At 7 p.m. Tuesday, the Bobcats have an away game against the Villages Charter (11-9), while the Hurricanes play at Lafayette (14-2).