'Excel in every phase:' How Buchholz baseball advanced to its first state title game
The way Ron Brooks looks at it, all the nerves are gone for his Buchholz squad.
“There's no other game you got to get to. I mean, we got to the game,” Brooks said.
The Bobcats have indeed made it to THE game.
Buchholz baseball will play its biggest game in program history Saturday morning when it battles Dwyer (Palm Beach Gardens) in the Class 6A State Title Game. First pitch from Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers is set for 11 a.m. Saturday morning.
The top-seeded ‘Cats run ruled Bloomingdale in dominant fashion 12-0 Thursday afternoon in the 6A semifinals.
Here’s what to know:
No rain delay blues for Buchholz baseball
First pitch between the ‘Cats and Bulls was set for 10 a.m., but bad weather pushed the start time all the way back to 3:15 p.m.
For those who are familiar with the weather the past two weeks in North Central Florida, you know a rain delay is nothing new for the Bobcats.
Buchholz had its District Final and Regional Final each pushed back a full day due to weather, and Brooks acknowledged Thursday’s delay did not affect the Bobcats.
“Our kids had a great attitude,” Brooks said. "They stayed loose, and it was great to see us jump out in the first.”
Jump out they did. The ‘Cats tallied seven first inning runs. Cooper Collins, Aidan Kastensmidt, Blake Brewer and Austin Cardozo all doubled, the latter three scoring two runs each.
Noah Hayse added the other RBI on a single.
“Our kids came out there with really good at-bats,” Brooks said. “Several of those doubles came deep in the count. We were fortunate to hit it where the defense was not in position to get it.”
Two innings later, Buchholz put any Bloomingdale comeback hopes to bed. Another Hayse single scored two. Hits from JJ Gardner and Brewer scored one each, and Anthony Wilkie blasted in a triple.
That felt especially good for Wilkie. The Clemson commit has struggled at times at the plate as he often sees the opponents’ best pitches.
"It's good to see him having success at the most important time of the year,” Brooks said.
Just to flex, the Bobcats pitching staff showed up big time. Gardner got the start and pitched three innings of shutout ball. Brewer finished it off with two frames of the same.
In total, the Bulls totaled just two hits.
What to know about Dwyer baseball
The Panthers, from Palm Beach Gardens in South Florida, defeated Viera 8-0 in the later semifinal Thursday.
Like Buchholz, the Panthers feature D1 talent all over. Their ace – Dawson Thrust – is an Air Force commit, and at the plate is Jackson Miller – an Ole Miss commit.
“We know we’re going to have to excel in every phase,” Brooks said.
The Bobcats have proven they can do just that, from Thursday’s 12-0 offensive shootout to Tuesday’s 1-0 Regional Final pitchers’ duel vs Hagerty.
Brooks said that gives the squad confidence heading into Saturday.
“Anytime you're playing well in all phases you know you're able to win games based on how the game is going at that time,” Brooks said. “Hopefully, we'll keep that going.”
The game can be seen on the NFHS Network for those who can’t make the trip down to Fort Myers.
A Bobcat win puts this squad in elite company. They’ll be the first in program history to win it all, just the fourth in Alachua County. They’ll join GHS (1934), Santa Fe (1975) and Newberry (2021).
Noah Ram covers Gainesville-area high school sports and University of Florida athletics for The Gainesville Sun. Contact him at Nram@gannett.com and follow him @Noah_ram1 on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Buchholz baseball beats Bloomingdale in FHSAA Class 6A Semifinals, faces Dwyer
