After stopping the bleeding of a three-game skid a week ago with a pair of wins over Lanier High School, Habersham Central High School’s varsity baseball squad dropped back-to-back one-run contests to Apalachee High School on Monday and Wednesday.
Monday’s contest on the road was a 3-2 nailbiter that saw the Raiders (15-6, 7-5 Region 8-AAAAAA) score their two runs in the top of the first inning before the Wildcats (14-10, 10-2) notched runs in each the second, fourth and sixth innings to take the win.
Wednesday’s affair went a little differently before a 5-4 loss was the result.
“They’re a very good team. One of the best teams in our region, and so are we, in my opinion,” HCHS Head Coach Chris Akridge said. “If a few things go differently in Monday’s game and tonight’s game, we’re sitting here talking about how we just took the series from those guys.”
The Wildcats loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the third. Senior pitcher Konner Burrell was able to strikeout the next batter and induce a swinging bunt to get a force out at the plate on the batter after that.
With two outs, a fielding error on senior shortstop Hayden Gailey scored a run and left bases loaded and plated a run.
On the next batter, Burrell bounced a ball short of the plate and junior catcher Spencer Frady blocked the ball, which struck him under his protective mask and in the throat, careening the ball away from the plate and allowing a run to score.
The Raiders took two frames to cut the deficit in half, adding a run in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Junior Callum Spivey led off the inning with a line-drive double over the left fielder’s head. Sophomore Hudson Gailey delivered an infield single off the pitcher, allowing Spivey to move to third.
Junior Charlie Mills hit a long sacrifice fly to center field, pushing Spivey across the plate.
In the top of the fifth, the Wildcats had other plans. After a leadoff walk and a fielder’s choice at second base as the Raiders attempted to turn two on a great play from Hayden Gailey at shortstop, a flyout gave way to a two-out, two-run home run for Apalachee senior Traver Park for a 4-1 lead.
Not to be outshined, Burrell helped his own cause in the bottom of the fifth, answering a two-run shot with one of his own after Hayden Gailey walked to start the frame. The swing pulled the Raiders within one once again.
The Wildcats would tack on another in the top of the seventh and final inning after an errant throw on a tough play for senior third baseman Kaydon Bass led to the leadoff batter getting on base.
A pair of mishaps for the Raiders moved the runner from first to third, senior Kaleb Chastain, who relieved Burrell in the top of the sixth and pitched the final two innings, was able to induce a pair of flyouts.
Apalachee wouldn’t be denied, though. A two-out double to deep center field by senior Nate Valles plated the run to give the Wildcats a two-run cushion, 5-3.
Hayden Gailey was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the seventh before an error on the catcher allowed him to move to second base.
Burrell hit a long single to right field, allowing Gailey to score. Then, trying to stretch his hit into a double to put the tying run in scoring position, Burrell was thrown out at second for the first out of the inning.
A groundout to the pitcher for Frady led to a two-out walk to senior Kade Nicholson, who was pinch hitting for Chastain. Chastain came back in to run for Nicholson and was moved to second on a walk to Spivey.
With the pair on, Hudson Gailey stepped to the plate. The sophomore was 2-for-3, with his only out being a long out to right field, as he stepped into the box.
“If I had it to do over, I’d certainly leave him in in that situation,” Akridge said. “He’d smoked the ball three times already tonight.”
But this time he wouldn’t put the ball in play and the Raiders would quite literally go down swinging.
“That’s probably, as a sophomore, the most intense situation he’s ever been in,” Akridge said. “I know he will grow from it and be better for it. He’s a winner, he’s a competitor and I have no doubt he will bounce back from that.”
Earlier in the game, Hudson had a diving play at second base, snagging a line drive to end the top of the second inning. He turned right back around and drove the ball up the middle at the plate, past a diving Apalachee shortstop, to deliver the Raiders’ first hit of the contest.
“That’s the thing, even the other coaching staff, mid-game, were talking to me about how impressed they were with (Hudson) in the field and at the plate,” Akridge said. “Baseball is a difficult game. Sometimes you’re going to get up there and you’re going to smoke it, other times you aren’t. I think he’ll grow from it and be stronger.”
The Wildcats are a senior-heavy squad who played in the final four of the state playoffs two years ago. Many of the now-seniors, then-sophomores were playing in those games and have benefited from that experience.
“They have a ton of experience in tight games like that with playoff-type atmospheres. That matters,” Akridge said.
During the game, Akridge said he kept stressing to his team to “try to win one pitch at a time” and get back into the ballgame. That philosophy certainly played out with the Raiders bringing the game to within a run three different times throughout the contest.
“What I’m most concerned with at all times with our guys is how we go about our business and how we compete,” Akridge said. “I’m very proud of how they competed tonight. I just really tried to stress to them throughout the game that regardless of the circumstances, let’s just keep competing one pitch at a time. It got us right back in it.”
Where do we go from here
Now the home-and-away series of the regular season is over with and the Raiders will cycle through each team again with one more game.
They’ll face Gainesville Friday night at the Red Elephants’ home field at the Lanier Point Athletic Complex. The Raiders own the season series, shutting out the Red Elephants early in March as the first region series of the year, and are looking for a season sweep on Gainesville’s home turf.
Next, HCHS will host Shiloh on Monday, April 8 at Raider Park at 5:55 p.m. The Raiders also own the series with 6-0 and 5-2 wins over the Generals.
From there, they’ll host Jackson County on Friday, April 12. The two teams split the two games earlier this season and are looking to take the region series with a win.
The Raiders will host North Forsyth for the final home game of the regular season on Monday, April 15 at 6 p.m. The Raiders from Cumming own the region series against HCHS with a pair of wins earlier this season. Depending on a game with Apalachee on Friday (April 5), North Forsyth could be sitting in a clear driver’s seat for the region crown or hoping Apalachee slips down the stretch.
HCHS would then travel to Lanier on April 17 at 6 p.m., looking for a season sweep of the Longhorns, before going on the road to Apalachee on April 19 at 5:55 p.m., looking to avoid a sweep to end the regular season.
