Following an 11-1, six-inning Game 1 win in Saturday’s doubleheader against Duluth Post 251 on Saturday at Ivey-Watson, an offensive lull was to be expected by the Gainesville A’s in Game 2.
Unfortunately for Duluth, that lull lasted only two innings as the A’s scored 15 runs on 14 hits in five innings on their way to a 15-7 Game 2 win and the series sweep.
Matt Pilgrim and James Wilson picked up the wins for Gainesville. Pilgrim had four strikeouts while only allowing three hits in a complete-game Game 1 win while Wilson had four strikeouts in his Game 2 win.
"Our pitching was great today," said Gainesville A’s pitching coach Austin Sexton. "Pilgrim, Max Everitt and James Wilson just did a great job for us."
Offensively, the A’s came out swinging sweetly, scoring nine runs on 13 hits in the first four innings of Game 1.
Centerfielder Brad Stone accounted for Gainesville’s first four runs scored, scoring on a single by Trey Pinson and then hitting a three-run home run in the second inning.
All told, eight of the 11 players who stepped to the plate in Game 1 got hits for Gainesville with Wilson and Brent Butler leading the way, each going 3-for-4.
Pinson, Cody Ackerman, Brandon Grindle and Ryan Avery did their part as well, accounting for two hits each.
"Our chemistry is really starting to come together," Sexton said. "Our guys are just hitting the ball real well right now.
"We were missing some guys today so we told the team that everybody was going to play and we were just going to have some fun," Sexton added. "Everybody did their jobs so well, and that’s the key."
Duluth found it less difficult to get on the base paths and score runs at the start of the second game.
The boys from Post 251 scored five runs on eight hits in the first three innings to take a 5-0 lead.
The deficit, combined with the offensive resurgence of Duluth, however, wasn’t a deterrent for the A’s.
Ackerman capped a four-run bottom of the third with a two-run single to get Gainesville back in it.
Ackerman finished the game 3-for-4 with two RBIs.
The A’s followed that performance with a four-run fourth that started with three-straight doubles by Stone, Wilson and Pinson that gave Gainesville its first lead at 6-5.
Stone went 3-for-3 in Game 2 with three RBIs and hit for the cycle in the doubleheader. Wilson finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs and Pinson was 1-for-3 with two RBIs.
The nail in the coffin was Gainesville’s four-run fourth, when Jordan Wilson hit the first of his two two-run home runs to give the A’s some cushion with an 8-5 lead they would not relinquish.
Jordan Wilson went 3-for-3 in Game 2 with two home runs and a single.
"Brad (Stone) and Jordan Wilson hit the ball extremely well for us today," Sexton said. "But the main thing this is that we played as a team today and that’s what it takes to win ball games."
The A’s return to action at 2 p.m. today at Conyers.