Although the sky threatened to ruin the festivities taking place at John Kurtz Field Saturday afternoon, the clouds held off just long enough for the Bobcats to celebrate their seniors as well as finish a sweep of the Claflin University Panthers.
One part of the pregame ceremony saw each senior catch a pitch from someone close to them at the same time, and the result was a hilarious cascade of baseballs thrown at varying speeds and angles. Thankfully, the only thing hurt were some parents’ hopes of playing professional baseball, but it looked like they were more than content to watch the younger generation play instead.
If anyone was worried the seniors would fall flat on their special day, those thoughts were put to bed very quickly, as senior shortstop KC Brown and senior first baseman Brandon Bellflower hit back-to-back solo home runs to open up the scoring, and those long bombs helped set the tone for the rest of the day. The Bobcats added another run to their first inning total after an RBI double from sophomore Palmer Sapp, and GC continued to inch away from the Panthers bit by bit as the game progressed. By the time the eighth inning rolled around, the Bobcats had extended their lead to 6-0, with the most recent run coming via another solo home run from Brown.
The Panthers refused to go down without a fight however, as pitcher T.J. Hubbard threw an incredible 120-pitch game despite the home runs, and after a couple RBI singles had shrunk the lead to 6-2. Unfortunately for Claflin, senior right fielder Paul Grazzini wanted to make sure he was noticed and rocked a deep two-run home run on the right field side to restore the six-run lead.
Although some sloppy pitching from sophomore Davis Swenson gave Bobcat fans a bit of a scare as he allowed three runs to cross the plate in the top of the ninth, he eventually managed to get the last batter to pop out to left field and keep everyone in attendance happy as they continued celebrating the seniors after the game under the safety of the pavilion roof.
“I’m really proud of these guys for bringing their best to the plate every single game, and I’m excited to see where life takes them,” said Head Coach Nolan Belcher prior to the game.
The remaining regular season games are all on the road for the Bobcats, as they travel to Columbus State to face the number-nine nationally ranked Cougars this weekend as they start their final push toward a top-four spot in the PBC standings and the home games it would bring for the postseason tournament