By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director

CENTRE – Spring Garden junior pitcher Hayes Garmon was cruising right along against the Cherokee County Warriors until the bottom of the seventh inning.

Garmon hit Luke Young with a pitch to lead off the inning, then got Nate Black to ground into a fielder’s choice. Warrior pinch hitter Case Hill then delivered a single to center to put runners at first and second with one out to bring Parker Wilson to the plate.

Spring Garden coach Cole Murphy called timeout to let Garmon catch his breath and settle down. Garmon then got Wilson to strike out.

Following a walk to Warrior pinch hitter Aiden Bobbitt to load the bases, Garmon slammed the door by getting Cooper Allen to strike out swinging, preserving the Panthers’ 3-0 season-opening baseball win.

Garmon surrendered just four hits, a walk and a hit batsman in earning the complete-game victory. He finished with five strikeouts.

“He did a great job of coming in and starting the season off for us,” Murphy said. “The defense had his back. They made a lot of great plays. He did a great job hitting his spots, trusting the pitches and just letting it loose and doing his job.

Garmon said when Murphy called timeout in the bottom of the seventh, it helped him reset.

“It helped me refocus on my job,” Hayes said. “It helped me get my groove again.”

“Sometimes you’re pitching, you’re in the zone, then you get into a situation where you need a minute to take a deep breath,” Murphy said. “I told him the game plan, what we were looking at pitch wise. They were starting to pick up on some of his pitches. I was going to have to do a better job mixing them in and just let the defense play.”

Whatever Murphy did to help settle Garmon down did the trick.

“He kept us off-balance,” Cherokee County coach Bret Henderson said. “Everything was out front. We elevated everything. I think we had four ground ball outs all day. You can’t expect a lot of success with the wind blowing today keeping it in. It’s good for us honestly. Hopefully we’ll learn from this and get better from it.

“We had the bases loaded, had what we wanted in that situation, but again hat’s off to their pitcher. He did a great job of keeping us off-balance for sure.”

Garmon’s performance outshined that of the one turned in from the Warriors’ Garrett McRay.

McCray allowed just three first inning runs but held the Panthers scoreless the rest of the way. He gave up a walk and six hits with four strikeouts.

“He pitched a great game,” Murphy said of McRay. “He did a great job keeping us close on the bases, mixing up his time. He did a great job hitting his spots, keeping everything low, changing up his velocity.”

Opposite of Garmon, McRay’s only inning that he struggled was the first. He walked Panther leadoff batter Chapel Pope. Connor Bates then doubled to right to bring home Pope. John Welsh followed with a single to left to score Bates. Welsh later scored the third Panther run.

“That first inning was great. It really set the tone for the game,” Garmon said.

“I think that momentum starting off, it being our first game, allowed us to build on it and back us up defensively,” Murphy said. “We knew what kind of game this was going to be. We knew it wasn’t going to be a blowout. The last inning shows that. They’re one hit away from us going into eight innings instead of seven. They did a great job starting the game off fast.”

Hunter Parris had a pair of hits for the Panthers. Bates and Jacob Welsh both doubled. John Welsh and Zane Edwards both finished with hit.

Cooper Rodgers, Jeb Crane, Wilson and Hill had the lone Warrior hits.