Suwanee, GA – Going into Monday night’s matchup between the Gol’Diggers and Crackers Gainesville was in first place by a half-game and Atlanta was a game and a half behind them. Earlier in the season, Atlanta and Gainesville split the series with both teams winning a game. The winner of this week's series will hold the head-to-head advantage as the playoffs inch closer.
In the first inning, Gainesville took advantage of a lead-off walk to the speedster Noah Darden. Darden stole second and Kade Smallwood came to bat and hit an RBI single up the middle to give the Gol’Diggers the early lead. In the bottom of the inning, the Crackers loaded the bases on a hit and two walks with only one out. The Crackers were only able to score one run on an errant play and Sahil Patel worked out of the jam striking out the final two batters of the inning.
In the third inning, the Gol’Diggers took the lead on an RBI hit by Zack Zavala scoring Jacques Walker. Sahil Patel started the game for the Gol’Diggers and he had an impressive performance. Patel pitched for four innings facing 18 batters, he stuck out 8 of those batters allowing only 3 hits.
In the fifth inning, the Gol’Diggers started the inning with a lead-off error on a ball hit by Shamaar McDuffie. This was followed by five walks and two hits leading to a four-run inning for the Gol’Diggers. In the Sixth inning, the Gol'Diggers added another run on a homerun hit by Jacques Walker to give the Gol’Diggers a 7-1 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Kaleb Huffman of the Crackers hit a two-run home for his league-leading sixth home run. In the Seventh inning, the Gol’Diggers added two more runs to their lead on a bases-loaded single by Eliud Poventud and a bases-loaded walk to Jackson Price.
In the final four innings, Tyler Martin pitched for the Gol’Diggers and faced 16 batters, stuck out six, and only allowed 3 hits for 2 runs. Gol’Diggers pitching was the star in this game as Sahil Patel, Ian Anderson, and Tyler Martin combined for 16 strikeouts, walked only 3 batters, and gave up just 3 runs, 2 were earned runs.
Gainesville finished the night winning 9-3 and will look to take the advantage in the season series with the Crackers on Wednesday night. Wednesday night's game is scheduled for a 7:05 P.m. first pitch at Peachtree Ridge High School.
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