There were no power outages in the lights at Ivey-Watson Field on Wednesday, nor in the Gainesville A’s lineup.
One night after their season opener against Dawsonville was stopped in the eighth inning due to faulty outfield lights, the A’s (1-0, 1-0 North Area) defeated Alpharetta Post 201, 6-3 in their home opener.
After scoring 12 runs before Tuesday’s game was called, the A’s settled down to a modest six runs on seven hits but kept Alpharetta off the scoreboard until the seventh and eighth innings, allowing only six hits in the process.
“Offensively, we weren’t as good as last night, but we scored enough and we had great pitching to get us through the day,” Gainesville hitting coach Nick Murphy said. “Once you get behind them (the players) and encourage them, they have no problem getting focused for the game.”
Six of the A’s seven hits came from the bats of cleanup hitter Bucky Free and No. 5 hitter Travis Rutkiewicz. Free was 3-for-3 with two doubles and three runs, while Rutkiewicz connected for his second home run in as many games as part of a 3-for-4 night at the plate.
“It just seems like we’ve clicked,” Free said. “Travis has come out and has hit two bombs and is just ripping it at the plate.
“I just tried to come out and be aggressive tonight and not let the pitchers get ahead of me.”
Free hit his first double of the night in the fourth inning, followed by Rutkiewicz’s home run that gave the A’s a 2-0 lead.
The two hitters helped expand the lead to four in the fifth, when Rutkiewicz singled to score Trey Pinson, and Free scored on a sacrifice ground ball by Cody Ackerman.
Ryan Avery and Jordan Wilson each picked up sacrifice RBIs. Avery scored Brad Stone in the sixth inning, while Wilson helped Free scored his third run of the game.
“They (Alpharetta) had some good pitching, but we came out swinging,” said. “We didn’t push any runs across, then later on we finally started clicking.”
On the mound, pitcher Andy Edmondson picked up the win for the A’s, pitching six innings with five hits and two earned runs on his former high school mound.
“Andy threw a great game,” Murphy said. “He was able to locate his pitches and get a lot of ground balls.”
Alpharetta scored two runs in the seventh and another in the eighth, but were unable to force a comeback against Gainesville relievers Kevin Clifford and Max Everitt.
The A’s visit Rockdale at 7 p.m. today, with Matt Pilgrim making his first start of the season.
One night after their season opener against Dawsonville was stopped in the eighth inning due to faulty outfield lights, the A’s (1-0, 1-0 North Area) defeated Alpharetta Post 201, 6-3 in their home opener.
After scoring 12 runs before Tuesday’s game was called, the A’s settled down to a modest six runs on seven hits but kept Alpharetta off the scoreboard until the seventh and eighth innings, allowing only six hits in the process.
“Offensively, we weren’t as good as last night, but we scored enough and we had great pitching to get us through the day,” Gainesville hitting coach Nick Murphy said. “Once you get behind them (the players) and encourage them, they have no problem getting focused for the game.”
Six of the A’s seven hits came from the bats of cleanup hitter Bucky Free and No. 5 hitter Travis Rutkiewicz. Free was 3-for-3 with two doubles and three runs, while Rutkiewicz connected for his second home run in as many games as part of a 3-for-4 night at the plate.
“It just seems like we’ve clicked,” Free said. “Travis has come out and has hit two bombs and is just ripping it at the plate.
“I just tried to come out and be aggressive tonight and not let the pitchers get ahead of me.”
Free hit his first double of the night in the fourth inning, followed by Rutkiewicz’s home run that gave the A’s a 2-0 lead.
The two hitters helped expand the lead to four in the fifth, when Rutkiewicz singled to score Trey Pinson, and Free scored on a sacrifice ground ball by Cody Ackerman.
Ryan Avery and Jordan Wilson each picked up sacrifice RBIs. Avery scored Brad Stone in the sixth inning, while Wilson helped Free scored his third run of the game.
“They (Alpharetta) had some good pitching, but we came out swinging,” said. “We didn’t push any runs across, then later on we finally started clicking.”
On the mound, pitcher Andy Edmondson picked up the win for the A’s, pitching six innings with five hits and two earned runs on his former high school mound.
“Andy threw a great game,” Murphy said. “He was able to locate his pitches and get a lot of ground balls.”
Alpharetta scored two runs in the seventh and another in the eighth, but were unable to force a comeback against Gainesville relievers Kevin Clifford and Max Everitt.
The A’s visit Rockdale at 7 p.m. today, with Matt Pilgrim making his first start of the season.