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Columbia third baseman Ayden Phillips celebrates after hitting a two-run home run against Buchholz on Tuesday night. (BRENT KUYKENDALL/Lake City Reporter)
Ayden Phillips was just trying to put the ball in play.
With the bases loaded and Grant Bowers eagerly waiting on third base with one out, Phillips just got a piece of Buchholz pitcher Aidan Kastensmidt’s slider as it crossed home plate. It bounced past Kastensmidt, then first baseman Anthony Wilkie as he reached right with his glove, and Bowers scored with ease.
The textbook piece of hitting saved Columbia right after blowing a five-run lead just a half inning earlier.
Phillips’ go-ahead RBI infield single in the sixth inning lifted the Class 5A No. 4 Tigers past the Class 6A No. 6 Bobcats 7-6 at home Tuesday night in a matchup of state contenders. It was his second big hit of the night after also smashing a two-run home run that helped Columbia build an early 5-0 lead.
The Tigers (15-2) made it interesting late though, squandering a 6-1 advantage in the top of the sixth inning before answering in the bottom half of the frame for their eighth straight win.
“We tried to give it away there, but we showed we can play through adversity, and we pulled out a win,” Columbia head coach Chris Howard said.
Phillips finished 2 for 4 with three RBIs. His two-run shot was an eye-popper, bouncing off the light pole in left-center field. But it was Phillip’s adjustment mid-swing in his final at-bat of the night that was just an impressive as he battled Kastensmidt in a 1-2 count.
“A slider came through and I already started my swing, so I just basically stopped my swing and got it down,” Phillip said. “It was basically like a swinging push bunt. I had to make sure the runner at third was not going to get thrown out.”
Hayden Gustavson shut the door with a 1-2-3 seventh inning for the save, but it wasn’t without drama against the Bobcats (10-4). JJ Gardner hit a ball deep to center field that was caught for the second out of the inning, prompting Gustavson to tell him “good swing.” Gardner responded with an expletive and was promptly ejected before Gustavson ended the game with his second strikeout of the inning.
It was the second straight contest Columbia held on for a one-run win after jumping out to a big lead. The Tigers also beat North Florida Christian 9-8 last Thursday after building an early 8-0 advantage.
“We had good control of it, and that’s where we’ve kind of been struggling all year,” Gustavson said. “We get control of games and we kind of, I don’t want to say lazy, but we kind of get laid back in a way where we feel confident in our pitching and our entire team and we feel like we’re kind of grooving. That happened against NFC and the same thing here. We have to have more battle through the middle parts of the game and not just early and then relax. We have to play a full seven innings.”
The game turned competitive in the top of the sixth when Bynton Edge entered for starting pitcher Trayce-McKenzie Starling, who allowed one earned run on six hits while striking out six hitters. Edge didn’t record an out, instead allowing a single and two walks before hitting Gardner with a pitch to make it a 6-2 score.
Jungseob So, who finished 2 for 4, then cleared the bases with his second double of the night to pull the Bobcats with a run. That was it for Edge and Howard turned to Phillip Maddox, who struck out two batters before walking the bases loaded and then hitting Anthony Wilkie with a pitch to bring Buchholz even at 6-6.
Maddox finally got Noah Hayse to fly out to right field to stop the bleeding after 11 batters.
“If it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t have gotten out of the inning,” Howard said of Maddox. “He kept it a tie game for us. He got put in in a tough spot with the bases loaded. He gave up one run. That’s all you can ask of him. He’s the unsung hero of this game.”
Columbia appeared to be on the way to a relatively easy win early as Buchholz starting pitcher Austin Cardozo struggled. Cardozo walked Matt Dumas to start the game and then allowed a single to Gustavson. Edge entered as the courtesy runner and got caught in a rundown between first and second base, which prompted Dumas to bolt for home plate and score the game’s first run.
Phillips was the very next batter, sending a rocket off the light pole to make it 3-0 early.
The Tigers added two more runs off of Cardozo in the third inning. Carston Palmer singled and scored on an RBI single from Camdon Frier on a ball that bobbled by Buchholz centerfielder Nicholas Taylor.
Frier made it 5-0 when he scored on a sac fly from Brayden Thomas. Cardozo allowed five earned runs on five hits, two walks and three hit batters while striking out two in three innings.
It was a big win for Columbia, which is now first in the Region 1-5A standings following the newest FHSAA rankings released on Tuesday. The Tigers have a rating of 15.157, which is just a slim lead over No. 2 seed Clay (14.932) and No. 3 seed Lincoln (14.848).
One win over Buchholz will certainly help the Tigers keep that lead. Another in a rematch on Friday at 7 p.m. in Gainesville would likely increase it.
“I was worried about our mindset coming into the game,” Howard said. “I told them all at practice (Monday) that this was a huge game, so we got out here (Tuesday) and tried to reverse roles and treat it like any other game, and they were ready. They really were. And I liked the way they handled adversity later.”