By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
GAYLESVILLE – The Spring Garden Panthers had some unknowns coming into the 2026 baseball season.
Young in several key positions, they started out losing five of their first seven games. However, all of those losses were against quality opponents and bigger schools.
The Panthers learned a lot from those early-season lumps. Now they’ve won eight in a row, including a Class 1A, Area 12 championship.
The Panthers actually wrapped up their latest area title in their series opener with Gaylesville on Tuesday, but Spring Garden finished up area play undefeated with a 13-0 five-inning victory over the Trojans on Thursday.
“We felt like we were going to be a little iffy this year, just because of how young we were going to be, but we also have some confident players,” said senior pitcher Clayton Sadler, who didn’t allow a hit through his three innings and finished with six strikeouts.
“I feel like we’ve progressed a lot throughout the year to get to another area championship. Coach (Kyle) Garmon scheduled us some pretty heavy teams so we’d be fine once we got to 1A ball. I feel like that helped us out a lot. Credit to the coaches for that.”
“I think it’s pretty special to win the area,” added sophomore third baseman Ben Baker, who delivered a 3-run triple to right in the top of the first inning. He was also hit by a pitch in the second and doubled in a run in the third. “I think at the beginning we were struggling a lot on pitching and fielding, but as we kept playing, I think we all started to come together as a team.”
After defeating Gaylesville 11-0 in the series opener on Tuesday, Garmon cautioned the Panthers not to overlook the Trojans on Thursday.
“Gaylesville is an area rival for us and we talked about that before we came over here,” he said. “Two years ago, we came over here and got beat and it ended up costing us a playoff spot later on. We already had the one seed wrapped up coming into today, but I didn’t mention it to the kids. I think they knew it already, and we definitely knew we had a playoff spot wrapped up. We just didn’t need a bad game. This time of year you don’t need a bad game.”
The Panthers certainly didn’t have a bad game on Thursday.
Already up comfortably, Sadler was relieved in the fourth by eighth grade reliever Brody Bostick, who allowed just one hit with five strikeouts to secure the shutout.
The Panthers (14-10) gave both pitchers plenty of run support early. They sent 10 batters to the plate in the top of the first inning and scored five runs, with the big blow a 3-run triple by sophomore third baseman Ben Baker. Baker was also hit by a pitch and doubled in a run in the top of the third.
Spring Garden added two more runs in the second and six more in the third for the final.
Brady Ruark contributed two hits, two runs, and a RBI for the Panthers. Zane Edwards doubled in a run in the third and scored twice. Dawson Ellzey delivered a hit and two RBIs.
Center fielder Sean Poss had the lone hit for the Trojans. He singled to center with two outs in the bottom of the fourth off of Bostick. Jack Sentell and Gunner Walters were both hit by pitches.
Cole Hendon suffered the loss for the Trojans. He finished with four strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings before being relieved by Bradley Smith. Smith finished with three strikeouts.
The Panthers will host a first-round, best-of-three game playoff series against the Area 11 runner-up Victory Christian beginning next Friday with a doubleheader. A third game, if necessary, will be played on Saturday.
But before postseason play begins for the Panthers, Spring Garden hosts a doubleheader against Pleasant Valley beginning at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Gaylesville (4-9) closes out its season on Tuesday at Ider at 4:30 p.m.
