In the Region 8-7A opener, the Buford varsity baseball team defeated Mountain View 2-1 on Monday, Mar. 11 at Gerald McQuaig Field.
The game put two top senior pitchers against one another, Buford’s Nate Taylor, a Georgia commit and Mountain View’s Cooper Johnson, an Ole Miss commit.
Taylor (3-1) had a solid night on the mound. He pitched six innings where he gave up four hits, one earned run, only walked one and struck out nine batters. Junior Damian Brown was called in from the bullpen to take over for Taylor in the seventh inning. Brown made quick work of the Bears putting them away 1-2-3 to earn his second save of the season.
In the third inning, Mountain View’s Johnson walked the bases loaded and then walked Murray to give the Wolves their first run of the game. Buford added on another run in the fifth inning as junior Cannon Goldin hit a double, a line drive to right-center. Then two batters later, Goldin would score when Taylor hit a fly ball to deep right field making the game 2-0.
Mountain View got their only run of the game in the sixth inning off of two hits and a balk. That would be all the Bears could get after they went down 1-2-3 in the seventh inning giving Buford the 2-1 win.
Offensive standouts for the Wolves were Taylor (2-for-2, RBI, walk), Goldin (1-for-3, double, one run scored), sophomore Ayden Lockett (1-for-3, one stolen base), senior Madden Young (1-for-3) and sophomore Cam Wood (1-for-3).
Buford’s overall season record improved to 7-4 and 1-0 in Region 8-7A.
The Wolves will travel to Mountain View on Wednesday, Mar. 13 to continue Region 8-7A play. The game starts at 5:55 p.m.
