Baseball: Gainesville swept out in Thomson

THOMSON -- The Gainesville baseball team suffered a two-game sweep against Thomson on Tuesday in the Class AAA quarterfinals in Thomson.

The Red Elephants fell 14-7 in Game 1 and lost the nightcap in the best-of-three series 13-1 in six innings.

The outcomes ended Gainesville's season at 28-5.

While the third round of the playoffs did not prove charming for the Elephants on Tuesday, the future is bright as they will return their top five pitchers next season as well as seven of their top nine position players.

It was the deepest Gainesville had advanced in the playoffs since winning the Class AAA state title in 2002.

Thomson will move on to the semifinals to take on No. 1-ranked Columbus on Monday.

The Red Elephants started strong in Game 1, jumping ahead 4-0 in the top of the first, but the host Bulldogs (26-4) responded with five runs in the bottom of the third to take a 7-4 advantage. Thomson blew the game open with four more in the third for an 11-4 lead.

The Bulldogs' Cody Ewest hit two home runs and drove in three runs in the decisive innings to power them to the win. Thomson pounded out 16 hits against Hunter Anglin (10-2) and Ryan Griffith. The two Gainesville pitchers did not help themselves with 14 walks and hit batters in six innings.

Thomson's Abe Catledge (11-2) earned the win despite allowing seven runs in five-plus innings of work including giving up home runs to Sloan Strickland, David Gonzalez and Michael Lorentz. Nick Rau finished the game for Thomson retiring six of the eight batters he faced.

Game 2 was a nail-biter through the first four innings. Thomson scored the first run in the first inning on a steal of home but Gainesville tied the game in the third on a RBI single from K.J. McAllister scoring Stephen Mason.

Mason held the powerful Bulldog lineup in check until the fifth when his pitch count topped 100. Thomson finally got to the sophomore when five straight batters reached after one out. David Gonzalez relieved Mason but Thomson's Rau capped a nine-run inning with a grand slam for a 10-1 lead.

The Bulldogs put the game away with three more in the top of the sixth to invoke the 10-run Mercy rule.