It took nearly a full month to do so.
But Gate City not only picked up its first sweep, but won back-to-back games for the first time this season by taking a 10-9, 8-5 doubleheader against The Lab out of Logan, Utah Friday night at Halliwell Park.
The Grays (4-5) had lost four out of their last five games, including three straight on the road.
“The boys battled hard on Friday. It was huge to see the boys never quit,” Gate City head coach Rhys Pope said. “To get two wins to kind of get us back on track a little bit and to boost the league standings for us a little bit too, was huge.”
Yet, Gate City found itself down by four or more runs on two different occasions in the opener. The Lab jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning. But the Grays cut the deficit all the way down to one in the bottom half of that inning. JD Gunderson was responsible for two of those runs on a single to left field. Trei Hough then made it 4-3 on his sacrifice fly to left field.
But after Gunderson tied the game at 4 all in the bottom of the third on a line drive to right field, The Lab plated five runs the very next inning. However, Gate City answered once again with five runs of its own to tie the game at 9-9.
Tyler Vance started the rally with a bases-loaded, two-run triple on a fly ball to right field. Vance then scored via an error on a pickoff attempt at first base. Brayden Pieper knocked in an RBI single to left field before Cole Pulliam completed the comeback with a two-out RBI ground-ball single to center field.
“We’re a resilient group. We’ve seen it in some of our other losses. We just haven’t been able to get the last hit to win it. And even after we went down 9-4, I went, ‘Shoot man, we used our comeback up already,” Pope said. “But the boys were like, ‘No, let’s go do it one run at a time, chip away. Let’s have the mentality of, we’re never out, we’re never down, we can win the ball game.’”
And they did just that in dramatic fashion no less.
With one out and runners at second and third in the bottom of the seventh inning, Hough came to plate 0-for-3, including a strikeout. The Lab knew this, too. It intentionally walked Gunderson to get to him.
But the move backfired.
Hough ripped the very first pitch he saw. The line drive ended up in right field and was more than enough to bring home Easton Watterson for the walk-off win.
“That’s kind of the game of baseball right?,” Pope said. “You can go 0-3, but you’re always going to have another opportunity and it’s going to be in a big-time spot.
“You could see a little bit of frustration in Trei’s face. So it was awesome to see him battle through a couple of tough at-bats to get the one to win it for us.”
The nightcap wasn’t nearly as eventful.
The Grays were the ones who got off to a great start this time around with a 5-0 advantage after one. Unlike The Lab, though, they kept their lead.
Gate City got two of its first three baserunners on via a pair of walks. Gunderson made them pay for those mistakes with an RBI single to right field for the game’s first run.
It was just his third game of the year after missing the first three weeks of the season with a fractured ankle. He combined for three hits and a game-high four RBIs on the day.
“Just being around the kid, he’s fun, he’s energetic, he brings good energy and he works hard. So to see him in his first home game come out and ball out the way that he did, was awesome,” Pope said. “I think guys started to see when he came up to bat, it was like, ‘Hey, this guy’s going to get it done. He made some plays in the field, too. He was huge for us on Friday and we’re looking forward to him being a big part of the rest of our season.”
James Gracia then hit a single on a fly ball to right field and Hough a sac fly to center field before Gate City scored its final two runs of the inning off a pair of errors.
But The Lab did get within two at 5-3 with a big third inning. That’s as close as they got, though. The Grays ran their lead back up to five with a three-run fourth inning. Two of those came off the bat of Watterson on a fly ball to left field.
“It was very big. Another one of our sayings this year has been, ‘Whenever they score, respond. How are you going to respond? What are you going to do to keep yourself in the ballgame?,’” Pope said. “So I really think our goal was just to get one again. It’s like, ‘Hey, we’re not going away. We’re alright.’”
Watterson posted a game-high four hits to go along with a pair of RBIs. Rogelio Gonzalez and Vance added three hits each. Vance and Hough drove in two runs apiece.
On the mound, Slayder Watterson earned the win in Game 2 by throwing nine strikeouts in six and one-thirds innings.
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