Panthersville, GA – The two-time defending Sunbelt Champion Gainesville Gol’Diggers (1-0) scored runs in six of seven innings en route to a 15-5 (7) run-rule victory over the Atlanta Blues (0-1) at the GSU Baseball Complex on Opening Day of the 2024 Sunbelt League Season in the debut of new head coach Blake Davis.
Gainesville outhit Atlanta 10-5 and showed off their speed often, scorching the Blues with a whopping 17 stolen bases while capitalizing on 14 walks and three hit batters.
Jacques Walker and Tyler Triche both went 2-for-4 with two RBI’s, three runs scored and three stolen bases each to lead the Gol’Diggers at the plate. Zack Zavala recorded five stolen bases and scored four runs with three walks in a 1-for-2 effort, and Cole Harof entered the game at catcher in the fifth and made the most of his two plate appearances with a hit and a sacrifice fly to drive in two runs.
The Gol’Diggers scored two runs each in the first, second, and fourth innings to jump out to a 6-0 lead. Atlanta cut the deficit in half with three runs in the bottom of the fourth, but the Gol’Diggers immediately responded with a run on a pass ball in the fifth, three runs in the sixth highlighted by a two-run home run by Tyler Triche to left field, before sealing the game with five more runs in the seventh. The Blues scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh but couldn’t avoid the run-rule.
Logan Bogue (1-0) earned the win with two scoreless innings of relief. The rising junior from Middle Tennessee allowed just one hit and one walk and worked out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the fifth. Gainesville starter Sahil Patel pitched three scoreless innings to open the game, before allowing two runs in the fourth and giving way to the bullpen.
Samuel Bradley hit a two-run double to right center in the fourth inning, and Jacobi Brooks hit an RBI single up the middle in the seventh to lead Atlanta at the plate.
Blues starter Dominic Davis (0-1) took the loss. The Blues pitching staff picked off two baserunners in the first two innings but couldn’t overcome their 14 walks. Atlanta’s defense also hurt itself with four errors and four pass balls which led to four unearned runs.
Both teams will face each other again at the GSU Baseball Complex on Wednesday, June 5, at 7:05 p.m.
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