Gilmer County rallies past Man, steals victory from Hillbillies in extra innings
- Bill Lusk
- 21 hours ago
- 3 min read
Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports
MAN Remi Huffman may have made the play of the year to save Gilmer County's season in the bottom of the fifth inning, later in extra innings he would draw a leadoff walk and come around to score the go-ahead run in the Titans 5-4 eight inning win over Man Monday night in the Class A Region 4 championship series at William "Tootie" Carter Field.
With two runners on in the bottom of the fifth, Gavyn Cline ripped a shot up the middle that would have scored a run and gave the third ranked Hillbillies a one-run lead, but Huffman made a diving stop to snag the line drive in the air and stepped on second base to double up Landon Cantrell.
It was one of three double plays turned by fifth ranked Gilmer County (19-8), who moves one win away from advancing to next week's Class A state high school baseball tournament for the first time since 2014.
Huffman led off the top of the eighth with a walk off Man (16-11) reliever Noah Maynor, who was lifted for Cody Walls after facing just one batter.
Walls allowed a single to Jacob Stewart and hit Braylon Mencer on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases with no outs prompting Man coach Mike Crosby to make a third pitching change in the eighth.
Cam Gerace relieved Walls and struck out Colton Bush for the first out, but catcher Gauge Goodrich lofted a fly ball to right field that was caught for the second out by right fielder Brayden Compton.
On the play, Huffman tagged up from third and scored just ahead of the throw from Compton giving the Titans a 4-3 lead. On the very next pitch, Stewart stole home, and the Titans had 5-3 lead going into the bottom of the eighth.
Messer led off the Hillbilly eighth with a single to left center, but Kolten Holbert got Cline to ground into a 1-6-3 twin killing for the first and second outs.
The third double play turned by the Titans proved to be huge when the next batter in the Man lineup, Cody Walls drilled a solo home run over the left field fence to bring the Hillbillies within 5-4, but Holbert struck out Compton to end the game.
Holbert tossed a complete game and allowed four runs on seven hits with nine strikeouts and four walks.
Maynor suffered the loss after allowing one run and one walk. Messer started for the Hillbillies and went seven innings allowing three runs on six hits with six strikeouts and two walks.
Messer started the scoring in the third inning with a two-run double to score Cantrell and courtesy runner Caleb Brown for a 2-0 Man lead. Cline followed with a sacrifice fly to center field to score Messer's courtesy runner, Gavin Bartram, giving Man a 3-0 lead.
Gilmer County got a run in the fourth when the Titans executed a delayed double steal with two outs as Mencer stole second and Huffman stole home to cut the deficit to 3-1.
The Titans evened the score with a pair of runs in the fifth. Holbert cut the deficit to 3-2 when his RBI single plated Brody Beall and Stewart tied it with an RBI single to right field scoring Holbert.
Stewart went 2-for-4 with an RBI and run scored, and Beall was 2-for-4 with a run to lead the way for the Titans at the plate. Holbert finished 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run and Huffman scored twice.
For Man at the plate, Messer was 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, Walls went 2-for-4 with a home run and Cantrell was 2-for-3. The trio accounted for all of the Hillbillies seven hits.
Gilmer County can secure the Region 4 championship with a win Tuesday, but a Man win would force a decisive game three Wednesday night at William "Tootie" Carter Field.