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Suwannee coaches and player swarm Carston Palmer after he scored the game-winning run against Clay in the Region 1-4A semifinals on Saturday night. (PAUL BUCHANAN/Special to the Reporter)
LIVE OAK — Matthew Gill left his stamp on yet another high-stakes game.
This time, for what he did on the mound, for making the defensive play of the game, and his dramatic game-winning hit.
With a berth to the state Elite 8 on the line in the bottom of the seventh, Gill ripped a two-out opposite-field single to left, allowing Carston Palmer to score from second, capping off a 2-1 victory for No. 1 seed Suwanee in a thriller over No. 5 seed Clay in Saturday's Region 1-4A semifinals at Booster Field.
The game-ending play emptied the Bulldogs’ dugout, with the players running toward Gill into a wild celebration near first base.
“I was 0 for 2 at that point with two strikeouts,” Gill said. “For some reason, when I came up, I knew it was meant to be. I walked in, I looked up at the wife of one of the assistant coaches, she told me ‘You got this.’”
“I was so zoned in. I don't even remember…except it just happened.”
Suwannee (22-4) will next host No. 2 seed Bishop Kenny — a 5-3 winner over No. 3 seed Arnold — in the regional final on Tuesday at 7 p.m. An improved and scrappy Clay, which earlier this season took a 14-2 beating against Suwannee, ended its season at 18-11.
The hit capped off a gutsy complete-game effort for Gill, who often pitched himself out of trouble with timely strikeouts. He finished with eight strikeouts against two walks.
“Seniors can find a way to come through,” Suwannee head coach Justin Bruce said. “I've counted on seniors every year, and Gill comes in and pitches the best seven innings of baseball I've seen out of him yet. He's come through and put his team on his back.
“Then he comes through with a big hit at the end of the game like he did, that was magical, man.”
Gill, who threw over 90 pitches, also benefitted from two jam-ending double plays, including one that he started in the sixth inning with a high leap of a soft liner. He proceeded to throw to shortstop Payton Waters, who tagged second while the runner was about five yards off the base.
By then, the Blue Devils had tied the game at 1-1.
“That was one of the most crucial things…I don't know if we would have won that game or not without that,” recalled Gill of the play. “I know he just hit a blooper, I had to jump a little bit, I got it. I knew it was over because (the baserunner) was halfway (to third base). I was just so happy, so energetic. I thought we had to get it going and get the bats hot.”
Gill outdueled fellow lefthander Eli Roberts, who was replaced in the fourth inning by righthander Jayden Long. The Bulldogs were able to get seven hits off of them, while Gill gave up five hits.
The Bulldogs drew first blood in the bottom of the third. Palmer drew a leadoff walk and he then reached second on a throwing error from the catcher who attempted to pick him off at first.
Palmer then advanced on a sac bunt that resulted in the batter, Camdon Frier, reaching first on a throwing error. Palmer then scored on a passed ball for the 1-0 Suwannee lead.
After the pitchers traded scoreless innings, Clay started the fifth with three consecutive singles off of Gil to tie the game at 1-1. With the Blue Devils threatening to add more with two runners on, Gill dug in by striking out the next two batters, then getting the third out on a groundout to first base to prevent further damage.
The tense game got even tenser in Suwannee's fifth when Long, who also bats cleanup, got out of a two-out jam by striking out Waters on a 3-2 pitch.
After the inning-ending strikeout, Long reacted by taunting Waters as his team headed to the dugout, drawing the ire of the Suwannee players and coaches. Long had to be herded by his teammates to the Clay dugout.
“The intensity was through the roof,” said Palmer, the Bulldogs' leadoff hitter who went 1 for 3 with a walk, scoring both SHS runs. “All the guys knew we were going to have a dogfight. We had beaten them easily earlier in the season, but we knew they were trying to get revenge on that loss.
“When that pitcher taunted (Waters), some of the guys just kind of tucked in their back pocket. We made sure to play within ourselves. I feel you do it like that, it'll work out eventually. That's how the Bible teaches to carry yourselves.”
Gill clearly recalls the Clay pitcher's antics.
“Every single bone in our bodies wanted to retaliate,” Gill admitted. "We wanted to say something. People were saying, ‘Come on.’ But that's not how our team works. We wanted to play for ourselves, and I thought our team did a good job as a team to stay to ourselves, and not talk back to them.
"Payton was locked in, he knew he couldn't (retaliate) to end up getting kicked out of the game. That would have messed up our state run, our regional championship game. I'm glad he kept his cool.”
Gill followed that half inning with the 1-6 double play to end the sixth. He then had a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the seventh, setting up the dramatic bottom of the seventh with the 1-1 tie intact.