After their controversial series victory over the USC Aiken Paces last weekend, the Bobcats headed into the tournament as what many thought to be the weakest No. 2 seed. Although they started off with a bang Friday night, the team did not have enough gas to carry over to the next day and were ultimately eliminated after back-to-back losses Saturday.
The Bobcats began the weekend with a hard-fought 6-5 victory over the Georgia Southwestern Hurricanes Friday night, a game that saw multiple home runs from both teams and required extra innings to decide a winner. After Hurricanes’ catcher Greg Wozniak hit a solo shot in the top of the 10th inning to give his team the lead, the Bobcats knew they had to answer in a big way to either tie or win in the bottom of the inning. After senior Paul Grazzini singled to center field to lead off the inning, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, victory was knocking at the Bobcats’ door, and the man to answer was senior KC Brown. Brown swung at the first pitch thrown to him, and as the ball sailed over the fence for his second home run of the game, his teammates ran to home plate to celebrate with him as he crossed.
“Honestly I’m numb. I don’t know what just happened, but I’m glad we won,” Brown said immediately following the game.
The craziness of the victory would be taken away quickly the next day however, as the Bobcats would fall to the Young Harris Mountain Lions, a team who had swept them in their regular season series, 10-6 in their first game of the day. It was again a hard-fought game, as GC fell behind 10-0 after six innings, and despite scoring runs in each inning of the remaining three innings, the deficit was simply too much.
Now in the loser’s bracket, the Bobcats then had to take on, surprisingly, the No. 8 nationally ranked and PBC regular season champion Columbus State Cougars to make it to the championship on Sunday. Although the Bobcats had won their regular season series against the Cougars, who were also coming off a close loss in the previous game, Columbus State would not make the mistake of downplaying the Bobcats’ ability again. Despite the Bobcats scoring two runs in the first inning and holding the Cougars scoreless through the first two innings, a team as good as the Cougars can only be contained for so long, and they exploded for 10 runs in the third inning. At that point, the Bobcats energy had been completely sapped, and after the Cougars scored some insurance runs in each of the next three innings, GC could not score enough to cut the difference to 10 runs in the seventh inning, and the mercy rule was applied to end the game.
The Bobcats finish the season with a 33-20 record, their best since 2018. The team’s eight All-PBC Team awards this season also tie the program’s record.
It is a bittersweet end to many graduating seniors on the team, but the memories they have made in the years they have been there will last a lifetime.