In the biggest game in the history of the program, Tyler Garner wanted the ball for Boyd-Buchanan, and once he got it, no one was taking it away.
The junior right-hander pitched a four-hitter and struck out nine Friday as the Buccaneers (22-7) defeated Monterey in a Class A sectional, 6-3, to earn the school’s first trip to the Spring Fling. Garner, who allowed only one earned run, made coach Steve Robbins look good after getting the nod over a couple of other starting candidates.
“What a great job by Tyler,” Robbins said. “We had a choice of two or three kids and we talked about it and decided to go with Tyler. We were hoping he could give us four or five innings, but he did even better. He was just ready to go from the start.”
Garner, who added two hits and an RBI, had an idea Friday was going to be his day.
“When I was warming up in the bullpen, I don’t think my stuff has been that good all year,” said Garner who improved to 6-1 this season. “I felt I could go all the way. I guess it’s a great time to have my best stuff. It’s crazy, just great to help lead the team to the first state tournament appearance in school history.”
The other major story was the production of the Bucs’ bottom of the batting order. While the usually-productive top three of Zack Allen, Trey Tallent and Matthew Crowe were a combined 1-for-11, hitters four through eight were on base 10 times.
“The bottom of our order, as we’ve gone along, has carried us,” Robbins said. “The top of the order has hit well all year, but their guy (left-hander Ross Word) did a good job against us today. We left nine or 10 on base, but we scored six and won, so I’ll take it.”
The biggest single play of the game was actually a mistake. The Bucs had just taken a 2-1 lead in the fourth on a single by catcher Hayden Meadows, who was replaced on the bases by courtesy runner Christian Hatch. After a groundout and wild pitch, Hatch was on third when Jess Smith took ball four from Word. Hatch, however, was caught too far off third and was caught in a rundown. The Wildcats made one too many throws and Hatch used his speed to beat the throw home for a 3-1 lead.
“He got caught asleep and did a great job recovering,” Robbins said. “He’s a super athlete, obviously, to get out of that mess. It was big at the time and it seemed to affect them.”
The Bucs added three more runs in the fifth, in part thanks to three walks and two Monterey errors, and though the Wildcats (18-12) scored two runs in the sixth on a pair of Boyd-Buchanan miscues, Garner was able to shut the door to secure the history-making win.