Bulldogs are conference champs; District tournament baseball action starts next week
Photo by Karla Smith The Gainesville Bulldogs baseball team celebrate after beating Seymour in a 13-inning ‘nail biter’ to win the Summit Conference Championship. The Bulldogs head into district tournament action next week as the number one seed and ranked 6th in the state.
The Gainesville Bulldogs and the Seymour Tigers kept fans on the edge of their seats in a conference championship showdown that went 13 innings and saw Gainesville coach Blake Hobbs get ejected after he objected to an obstruction call at second base.
The Bulldogs won the game on May 3, 2-1 claiming the conference crown.
“It was a stressful pitchers’ dual,” said Hobbs. In talking about his ejection, Hobbs said he disagreed with an obstruction call at second base. “I disagreed with the umpire over an obstruction call,” Hobbs said. “I felt he took the life out of my players in that inning over that call. I just felt it changed the inning completely.”
Gainesville ace Hunter Luna went 8 innings, striking out 8 and giving up only 1 run and 1 walk.
Bulldog Wyatt Alms hit a home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to give Gainesville a 1-0 lead.
“We struggled defensively the next inning,” said Hobbs.
In the bottom of the 13th inning, Gainesville’s Carter Wise hustled and reached first base by sliding into the bag. Two walks later, Wise scored on a pass ball for the emotional win.
With the win, the Bulldogs earned a first seed in district action, which begins next week. It was the first conference championship for Gainesville since 1978.
The Bulldogs are currently ranked 6th in the state in class 2, while the Tigers are ranked 8th.