BASEBALL: 5 home runs, Roberts’ game 2 gem help Gatewood edge Trinity in semifinal series

The Trinity Crusaders gave two-time defending AA champion Gatewood all it could handle as they traveled to Eatonton for the GIAA state semifinals Friday, but the Gators held off the challenge in a heated set of games to advance to the championship series for a fifth-straight year. 

Game 1 was back and forth throughout, but Gatewood prevailed 6-5. Game 2 was a pitcher’s duel for most of the night, but three late runs by the Gators made the final 5-1, and Trinity ended its season with a 19-9 overall record. 

The series started out with a bang for the Crusaders as Asher Evans blasted the third pitch of game 1 over the left field fence to open a 1-0 lead. Nathan Sumner would single home another run later in the frame to make it 2-0. 

But the lead was short-lived. A two-out walk by Gatewood’s Jayden Moss and a single by Walker Roberts extended the bottom half of the first inning, and Lawson Moore gave Gators the lead back with a three-run homer to make it 3-2.

That score would hold until the bottom of the third, when Moss extended the Gators’ lead to 4-2 with a solo shot. 

Trinity looked to get back in the game in the fourth.

Sumner singled to lead off the inning. Tripp Mascaro followed with a walk and Carson Shepherd was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Jakob Sahli would drive in a run with a groundout to make it 4-3, and Cruz Giles knotted the score at 4-4 with a sac fly.

Evans would reach on an error to open the fifth. After he stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch, Carter Lee would drive him home with a groundout to give the Crusaders another lead, 5-4.

Once again, the Gators would come right back as Moss homered again to tie the score at 5. 

Trinity got a pair of runners on in the sixth, but failed to score. 

Gatewood would regain the lead in the bottom of the inning as Ames Johnson delivered a two-out single to put the Gators ahead 6-5. 

Evans would lead off the seventh with a single, but the next three hitters made outs to end the game. 

Evans and Sumner had two hits each, but no other Crusader recorded a hit in the contest. 

Trinity starter Ben Helton worked into the sixth inning on just under 100 pitches, striking out and walking three each and allowing six of Gatewood’s seven hits. Nathan Sumner collected the final three outs. 

Lee and Gator ace Roberts went toe-to-toe in a low-scoring start to game 2. 

Gatewood got on the board in the top of the second with a sacrifice fly. 

Sumner and Mascaro both singled to lead off the bottom of the second. Following an out, Sahli would add his own base hit for an RBI to knot the score at 1-1.

Lawson Moore singled with two outs in the third to give Gatewood the lead back at 2-1.

Evans singled to lead off the bottom of the third, and Braden Underwood walked to put a pair of runners on with no outs, but the next three hitters would all be retired to keep the score the same.

Moss and Lawson Moore both homered in the fifth to extend the Gatewood lead to 4-1.

Wilson Moore singled in the sixth, stole second and third and score on a sac fly for the final run of the game, making it 5-1. 

The Crusaders again had just four hits, with none coming after the Evans single in the third, as Roberts fired a complete game with 13 strikeouts to propel the Gators to the state finals. 

Moore’s four hits, for two RBIs, put him a triple shy of the cycle. 

Lee, Sumner, Cooper Dasher and Kolbi Grooms combined to allow nine Gator hits and walks, and strike out four. 

The loss ended the careers of Crusader seniors Sumner, Shepherd, Giles, Helton, Dasher and Cesar Rodriguez.