Baseball is a beautiful sport as is.
Now add a powerful left-handed swing by Battle Ground senior James Gill III for a walk-off two-run home run for the league title, and the moment becomes epic and emotional.
After the all-time classic 6-5 victory against the Union Titans on Thursday, April 30, Gill told reporters he has never been a part of a moment as big as his walk-off home run.
“It’s something very unreal,” he said. “I’m still processing it. It’s something very exciting.”
The at-bat prior, Gill hit a hard line groundball through the infield for an RBI single to continue to claw at the deficit; the Tigers wound up at 5-1 in the top half of the fifth inning. But before the confidence-boosting single, Gill said he was too excited and early in his approach, hitting ground balls for outs. His seventh-inning approach calmed back down to the batter everyone knew about in Clark County. The Battle Ground senior has walked nearly 30 times this season.
The Union Titans opted to take their chances against Gill with the speedy Collin McGowan standing on first.
“The ball was carrying to right field, so you just never know,” Tigers head coach Seth Johnson said after the ball left the bat high and deep in the air. “I knew it was going to be close, and it was a breaking ball, left-handed pitcher with a left-handed breaking ball, and James has struggled against him over the last couple of years. And then once James swung through that first fastball and he was on time, it was a good swing. He looked like he was dialed in …”
Johnson thought about stealing McGowan to try and get a runner in scoring position on second base but opted to hold McGowan to avoid a possible out caught stealing.
“I could see that James looked comfortable, looked good, with the pitch before,” Johnson said. “And then he came out with the breaking ball and James just got it on the barrel. He’s out in front. He got it on the barrel, and he’s obviously got enough power that if he gets it on the barrel, it’s going to go.”
The home run was Gill’s fourth on the year, but the moment is one that Johnson believes solidifies Gill’s campaign for three-time 4A GSHL player of the year.
“Two-time player of the year, and I mean that probably pretty much just solidified it right there,” Johnson said. “I mean, without that, it’s debatable between five or six guys, and Union’s got a couple of guys, we have multiple guys and then, you know, walk-off home run for a league championship. I mean, I don’t think you can match that.”
The Tigers gutted out a top half of the fifth inning 5-1 deficit to earn the 6-5 win over the Union Titans for the 4A Greater St. Helens League title, headlined on defense by a complete game thrown by sophomore Collin McGowan. In the game prior to Tuesday, April 28, McGowan caught all 13 innings. After the league title win, McGowan cracked a smile and said his legs were pretty tired.
Not only did McGowan stay on the mound with fatigued legs for all seven innings on Thursday, in the top half of the fourth inning, McGowan made a tremendous, underrated play on defense. On a Union bunt attempt, McGowan fielded the ball up the first base line with a spinning, jumping throw to Gill to get the second out of the inning as Union gained the 2-1 lead. The crucial second out on the highlight play helped limit the damage as the next Union batter singled up the third base line to extend the lead 4-1, instead of possibly 5-1.
Usually, on a Thursday, after Collin McGowan starts on the mound, his brother Cooper McGowan will come in for relief innings to close out the game. However, in the 13-inning 2-1 thrilling victory to set up Thursday’s opportunity, Cooper McGowan threw six innings in relief after Gill pitched the first seven innings.
With Cooper McGowan unavailable to throw after his younger brother, Johnson had a strong relief arm to use, but opted to keep Collin McGowan on the bump.
“I mean, he’s a Division I arm now,” Johnson said of Collin McGowan. “... We believe in (Axel) Massie. Massie was going to come in and … Massie’s got good stuff too, but man, Collin gutted it out.”
The Tigers and Titans entered the three-game series last week tied at the top of the league standings. In game one, the Titans gained the advantage with a 6-1 win on Monday, April 27. The marathon 13-inning game was a must-have for the Tigers as the win secured another tie atop the standings.
“It means a lot,” Gill said after the extra-innings win on Tuesday. “It shows that we’re not going to back down even though we lose one. We’re coming to fight, and we’re coming for that league title.”
After securing the top spot in the 4A Greater St. Helens League, the Tigers held senior night for their first game on home field this season against the King’s Way Knights, resulting in an X-X win/loss. Battle Ground next faced Prairie High School in the classic rivalry game on Tuesday, May 5, but results were unavailable at press time.
The District 3/4 4A baseball tournament is scheduled to begin on May 12, with first-round games featuring higher seeds. As of press time, seeding was not announced for the postseason tournament.
