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PAGE 4B
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2018
Baseball
Wildcats drop season finale to
Gainesville, finish year 15-13
The best season in program history for
the Apalachee High School baseball team
ended in tough fashion Friday as the Wild
cats couldn’t hold an early six-run lead
and lost 9-8 at Gainesville in the rubber
game of a GHSA Region 8-AAAAAA
series.
The Wildcats (15-13, 4-11 region)
scored a run in the first on a Parker Miller
RBI single and then got five more in the
second on the strength of a two-run single
by AJ Forbing and RBI double by Hunter
Linhart to go up 6-0.
After Gainesville (20-8, 11-4) got back
in it with five runs in the third, the Wild
cats added a pair in the top of the fourth on
a sacrifice fly by Miller and another dou
ble by Linhart. But the Red Elephants got
one in the fourth, two in the sixth and won
the game in the seventh on a two-out RBI
single by Banks Griffith to get the win.
Linhart led the Wildcats at the plate,
going 3-for-4 with three doubles and a
pair of RBIs, while Forbing had two hits.
Gainesville is the No. 2 seed from
Region 8 and will host Cambridge in the
first round of the state playoffs beginning
Thursday.
While they missed the playoffs, the
Wildcats showed vast improvement under
second-year coach Allan Bailey, winning
a school-record 15 games and improving
dramatically on a 4-22 finish from a year
ago.
Linhart, a senior first baseman, was
a solid cog in the middle of the lineup,
hitting .434 with four homers and driving
in 26 runs.
Fellow senior DJ Smith hit .386 with a
homer and 17 RBIs while playing all 28
games at short.
The Wildcats also got solid perfor
mances from starting pitchers sophomore
Hunter Parks (1-2. 3.44 ERA, 28 Ks in 40
2/3 innings), junior Alex Cook (2-1, 3.82
ERA, 60 Ks in 44 IP) and senior reliever
Dawson Matherly (5-2. 2.20 ERA, 21 Ks
in 28 2/3 IP).
BRINGING IT TO THE PLATE
Apalachee’s Alex Cook makes a pitch in the top of the first inning of the
Wildcats’ home loss to Gainesville on April 18.
COMING UP WITH IT CLEANLY
Apalachee senior shortstop DJ Smith throws a Gainesville runner out at first
base during a GHSA Region 8-AAAAAA game on April 18. The Wildcats lost
that game 13-2 and then fell 9-8 to the Red Elephants on Friday. They finished
the season 15-13 overall and 4-11 in region play. Photos by Scott Thompson
Against Lanier on Friday,
the Bulldoggs scored a pair
of runs in the top of the
fourth inning on doubles
by House and sophomore
Hunter Marsh to take a
4-3 lead over the Long
horns. Smith’s son. junior
Zack Smith, an Ole Miss
commit, pitched Wind
er-Barrow the rest of the
way from there, going 4
2/3 scoreless innings and
surrendering just four hits
and a walk while striking
out six. Marsh led the Bull
doggs at the plate, going
3-for-3 with an RBI.
Winder-Barrow also
picked up a non-region
win Saturday, rallying
past Region 3 champ and
eighth-ranked Heritage-Co-
nyers on the road, 7-6, in
the regular-season finale —
the Bulldoggs" second vic
tory over the Patriots this
season.
The Doggs fell down 5-0
in the bottom of the first,
but scored five in the top of
the sixth to take the lead.
After a walk by Marsh,
single by Lance Sikes and
intentional walk to Trace
Jeffers, Jhaydon Sullivan
hit a two-run single with
one out to cut the lead to
6-4. Austin Lockridge fol
lowed with an RBI single
and Trevor Maddox’s bunt
single on a squeeze play
scored Sullivan to tie the
game. Blake Friend fol
lowed with an RBI single
to make it 7-6.
Heritage loaded the bases
with no one out in the bot
tom of the seventh, but a
runner was caught steal
ing on a failed squeeze,
and Lockridge got a pair of
strikeouts to record the save
for Sikes.
Friend went 3-for-4 with
an RBI, and Sullivan —
making a spot start — went
2-for-3 with three RBIs.
“We had just clinched
Friday in an emotional
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WBHS continued from IB
and exhausting game, so
we treated the day a lit
tle differently and gave a
couple guys some rest.”
Brian Smith said. “We put
an even younger lineup out
there and wanted to try to
pitch everybody that had
not been used lately in case
we need them in the play
offs.
“They’re a really good
team and had their full
arsenal ready to go. They
jumped on us early, but I
was really proud of our
guys for keeping their com
posure.”
LOOKING AHEAD
TO DUNWOODY
While Smith was still
gathering more specif
ic information Monday,
he said the Bulldoggs are
expecting a tough fight
from Dunwoody in the first
round. While the Wildcats’
14-15 record seems medi
ocre at first glance, they
hail from a tough Region 7,
which includes defending
state champ and top-ranked
Pope.
“I know that they have
seen good baseball and
they’re not going to be
surprised by anything we
throw at them,” Smith said.
“They’re a very scrappy
kind of team that does a lot
of things well. I’ve heard
their best arm might not
pitch because of an elbow
issue but they’re still going
to provide a challenge.”
The two teams have faced
only one common oppo
nent this year — Gaines
ville. The Wildcats lost to
the Red Elephants, 13-3,
while the Bulldoggs took
two out of three from their
region counterparts.
The Bulldoggs are likely
to throw House and Lock
ridge — in either order
— for the first two games.
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Both guys have logged a
sub-1.50 ERA this season.
Zack Smith, Marsh and
Friend will be the next
three arms on the hill and
a couple other pitchers will
also be available.
Lockridge has been the
workhorse of the staff this
season.
“Most of our guys hav
en’t had to throw a lot
of pitches and I’ve been
happy about that, but he’s
been the one guy who has
gone a little bit deeper in
games,” Smith said of the
junior southpaw. “He’s
been very efficient. He’s a
225-pounder, a good, solid,
strong guy. We expect to
have everybody ready and
feeling good. It helps that
we’ve got a couple days for
the arms to recover.”
One player who’s not at
100 percent is junior Sam
Darling. Normally an out
fielder and one of only two
lineup regulars back from
last season. Darling has
been mostly relegated to
designated hitting duties as
an elbow injury has kept
him out of centerfield. Dar
ling will be in the lineup for
the Dunwoody series, but is
scheduled to undergo sea
son-ending surgery May 1
and will miss the rest of the
playoffs if the Bulldoggs
advance. Smith said.
“It’s tough because he
would have been a big arm
for us on the mound this
year and he gets such a
great jump on the ball out
in center,” Smith said of
Darling.
“But I know he’ll come
back strong for us next sea
son.”
If the Bulldoggs win the
series against Dunwoody,
they would host either
third-ranked River Ridge
or Northgate in the second
round beginning May 3.
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