Windsor wins it late at GMC
Mar. 12—An early GMC lead fell by the wayside when Windsor Academy came to visit Friday.
The Bulldogs were up 4-0 after three innings, but the Knights scored eight unanswered to leave with the 8-4 victory.
Things fell apart for the Bulldogs in the final two frames as the Windsor bats woke up with the game on the line. Making the loss all the more frustrating was the fact that nearly all of the comeback was accomplished with two outs.
"I thought we played pretty good early on," GMC head coach Kyle Redmond said. "We got up, and then I kind of felt like we started relaxing a little bit. I kept telling the guys we've got to put these teams away and we've got to get out of innings when there are two outs. We can't let it keep going."
Redmond's team enjoyed the early advantage with three runs in the first, helped along by sophomore Ayden Hamm almost leaving the yard to left. Another run was tacked on in the third before Windsor answered back with one of its own in the fourth. Further damage was averted though as the Knights had runners on first and third with two outs. Noah Goddard, standing in at catcher for injured senior Bryce Smith, kept the score at 4-1 GMC when he hosed Windsor's would-be base stealer out at second.
Sophomore Eli Griffith started on the mound for the 'Dogs, and was doing exactly what the team needed to cap off a three-game week. He ate six innings, struck out eight, and walked none, but the Windsor batters began figuring him out in his final trip out to the rubber. Three two-out singles, two by seniors Mason Merritt and Hayden Carr allowed the visitors to jump ahead 6-4.
The GMC hitters struggled in their attempts to take the lead back as only one baserunner reached in their last two at-bats.
"We had what we wanted in this game," said Redmond. "Our guy went six innings. We just didn't hit the ball. Pitching wasn't the problem. It was our approach at the plate. We tried to do too much."
Hamm had the best day at the plate for the home team, going 2-for-3 with 3 RBI and the team's only extra base hit on the afternoon.
That non-region loss put the Bulldogs at 1-2 on the week, 5-5 overall heading into the start of region play this week. GMC will travel to Wrightsville to face Johnson County today and will host that same JoCo team Thursday.
