Gators Get Well-Earned Win Over Raiders

By Craig Brown
Two of the top baseball teams in Class A met Thursday in Lake View with the Wild Gators hosting the Raiders of Hannah-Pamplico High School with the Wild Gators getting a well-earned 8-5 win.
Nick Collins took the mound for the Wild Gators and pitched an outstanding game against some very talented Raiders batters.
Good pitching alone was not going to stop the Raiders so the Wild Gator fielders stepped up and played one of their best games ever.
Jordan King at second, Brent Herlong at short stop and De’Ante Bridget at third robbed the Raiders of several hits with Justin Elliott digging some hurried throws out of the dirt at first base to secure the out.
Stone Spivey was almost flawless behind the plate snagging the occasional wild pitch that would have made it past other catchers.
The Wild Gator outfield could not have played better. Darious Ford in left field, Duane Nichols in center field and Hunter Stevens in right field made catches that brought cheers from the stands.
The outfield recovered quickly on the occasional Raiders hit allowing only one Raiders batter an extra base.
The Raiders got on the scoreboard in the top of the first with Gray Watson bringing home Mason Hicks with the Raiders only double for them getting the run in with two outs.
Herlong fielded a hard hit grounder making the throw to first for the third out to send the Gators to the plate. The Gators ended their first at bat leaving Herlong and Elliott on base giving the Raiders a 1-0 lead after one inning played.
The Wild Gators took the Raiders three up and out in the top of the second inning to get back at bat.
The Gator batters made contact but ended the inning with the Raiders still up 1-0.
In the top of the third Carson Mays made it to base for the Raiders on a walk but was thrown out by Collins trying to get back to first base.
Easton Tanner got a base hit down the third base line but that was it for the Raiders in the top of the third as the Gator fielders put the next two batters down.
The Wild Gators had a great at bat in the bottom of the third With Darious Ford leading off with a walk to first. De’Ante Bridget sent a hard shot to the fence in right center for a triple scoring Ford for the Wild Gators first run.
Collins made it to base on a walk putting runners on the corners with Herlong coming to the plate. Bridget scored on Helong’s solid hit to left.
The Gators could not get any more runners home in the bottom of the third leaving Collins and Stevens on base but now had a 2-1 lead.
Gray Watson led off for the Raiders in the fourth with a base hit to right but was almost thrown out at first by Stevens’ quick reaction to the ball.
Carson Gibbs advanced Watson to second on a sacrifice bunt. Nick Owens moved Watson to third with a base hit to right. Bryan Meggs brought Watson home on a Fielder’s choice hit. That would end the scoring for the Raiders in the top of the fourth with the score knotted at 2-2.
The bottom of the fourth was an exciting one for the Gators with Jordan King leading off with a walk to first base. Darious Ford laid down a bunt to third that was mishandled by the Raiders third baseman and then thrown out of play at first allowing the speedy King to round the bases to score the Gator’s third run.
With one out Nick Collins sent a high fly ball to right to score Ford on the Sacrifice out. Brent Herlong made it to base on a hit down third base advancing to second with Justin Elliott getting to base on an error at first.
Hunter Stevens sent a line drive to center for a double scoring Herlong and holding Elliott at third base.
The Raiders allowed no additional damage in the fourth but the Wild Gators now had a 5-2 lead.
Collins and the Gator fielders put the Raiders three up and out in the top of the fifth to return to the plate. Easton Tanner that replaced Mason Hicks on the mound for the Raiders retired the Wild Gator batters three up and out in the bottom of the fifth to hold the Wild Gator lead to 5-2.
Collins and the Gator fielders went back to work and closed out the top of the sixth with a strikeout and to infield throws to first base for the outs to put the gators back to bat in the bottom of the sixth.
Collins led off for the Gators with a walk to first, followed by a base hit to right by Herlong.
With one out Stevens loaded the bases with a walk. Duane Nichols scored Collins and Herlong got a base hit down the third base line.
Stone Spivey scored Stevens with base hit to left off of relief pitcher John Murtha.
Murtha got the next two Gator batters out to get the Raiders back to bat in the seventh. Collins got the Raiders lead-off batter out and was relieved by Herlong to close the game.
The Raiders did not make it to the lower state playoffs by accident and they proved this with a great rally in the seventh that produced three runs from three hits and one error but was not enough with Lake View getting the hard earned 8-5 win.
On the mound for the Raiders, Mason Hicks went four and a half innings posting three strikeouts with four hits, six walked batters, one batter hit by pitch and five runs scored for the loss.
On the mound for the Wild Gators, Nick Collins posted three strikeouts with four hits, two walked batters and two runs scored for the win.
At bat for the Raiders, Easton Tanner was 2 for 2 with two RBI and a stolen base. Gray Watson was 2 for 3 with double and a RBI. Bryan Meggs was 1 for 3 with a RBI on a fielder’s choice. Nick Owens was 1 for 3. Jacob Daves was 1 for 3. McKinley Turner got to base on an error with a RBI. Carson Gibbs added a sacrifice bunt and Carson Mays got to base on a walk.
At bat for the Wild Gators, Brent Herlong was 3 for 3 with a RBI also getting to base on a walk, Hunter Stevens was 1 for 2 with a double, RBI, and two walks to base. Duane Nichols was 1 for 3 with two RBI also getting to base on a hit by pitch. Stone Spivey was 1 for 3 with a walk. De’Ante Bridget was 1 for 4 with a triple and a RBI. Nick Collins had a RBI on a sacrifice fly adding three walks to base. Jordan King had a fielder’s choice and a walk to base. Darious Ford got a RBI on an error also getting to base on an error, and Justin Elliott got to base on an error.

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