Bobcats Fall To Rival Dragons

The Bobcats varsity baseball team traveled to PCMS yesterday to take on their bitter rival, the Pickens County Dragons, in region action. This was the first meeting between the two teams this season as both schools looked for bragging rights.Things got off to a good start for the Bobcats as Dylan Hatcher tripled off of the Dragons starter Tyler Garner, and later scored on McKinley Chadwick’s RBI single to put Gilmer up 1-0 heading to the bottom of the frame. An error and two walks however helped Pickens take the lead in the bottom of the inning as an RBI double by Dalton Presley and a RBI sacrifice fly by Walker Lawrence, gave the Dragons a 3-1 advantage going to the 2nd.

In the top of the 2nd inning, Noah Ralston got on with a 1-out double and came around to score on Dalton Stephen’s RBI single. Avery Sirmans then doubled himself and the Bobcats were threatening with runners at 2nd and 3rd with only one out. However, Gilmer would be unable to add anymore runs as they left the bases full of Bobcats trailing 3-2 going to the bottom of the 2nd. Pickens added to their lead after RBI triple from Travis Huffman and a RBI double from Zack Hermann to make it 5-2 going to the 3rd.

Runners left on base was one of the big factors for this game on the Gilmer side as Noah Wilson was left on second base after the DH Chad Watkins got thrown out at third after being caught in a “pickle” and Stephens striking out to end the half inning. Starting pitcher Garrett Rigdon had his best inning in the bottom of the 3rd as he sat the Dragons down in order to send us to the 4th and the Bobcats still trailing, 5-2. In the 4th, Rigdon drew a two-out walk and advanced to third after a pickoff attempt by Garner got passed the first baseman. Rigdon was left at third as Hatcher grounded to Pickens third baseman Zack Moore to send us to the bottom of the 4th.

Rigdon was able to work around a lead off single to Travis Seay and get the next three Dragons to fly out, ending any Pickens threat and sending us to the 5th. In the 5th, Chadwick got things going with a lead off double, advanced to third on Watkins’ sacrifice, and then scored on Wilson’s RBI sacrifice, making it 5-3. The bottom of the inning saw the Dragons threaten to break things open with the bases loaded and one out. Rigdon was relieved by Mayson Carver after going 4 1/3 innings and giving up 5 runs. Carver was able to get the Bobcats out of the inning without any runs score to keep it 5-3 Pickens.

Stephens lead off the 6th for Gilmer with a single and then stole 2nd. The Bobcats again left another runner in scoring position and stranded Stephens at 2nd. The Dragons managed one hit off of Carver in the 6th, but that was all as we went to the 7th and Gilmer down to their final outs. The Bobcats went down 1-2-3 in the 7th and fell 5-3.

McKinley Chadwick went 2-4 with a single and a double, an RBI, and a run scored

Dalton Stephens went 2-3 with 2 singles and an RBI

Noah Wilson went 1-2 with a double and an RBI

Looking back on this game, the Bobcats had several opportunities to win this one. They out hit Pickens 9-8 but left 6 men on base in a 5-3 defeat. Gilmer will now look to shake off this tough loss and prepare for LaFayette tomorrow at home at 5:30.