By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
SPRING GARDEN – The 2025 Spring Garden baseball team didn’t get off to the best of starts. The Panthers began the season 0-5 under first-year head coach Kyle Garmon.
But once Garmon figured out what he had, the Panthers turned into playoff contenders.
“I hadn’t coached these kids before. We were kind of learning,” Garmon said. “I didn’t set a lineup until over halfway through the year. At that point, that’s when you have the opportunity to start getting better.”
And get better they did. A year after missing the playoffs, Spring Garden won Class 1A, Area 12 and hosted a first-round playoff series against Pickens Academy on Friday.
Despite having home field advantage, the Pirates swept the Panthers to end their season at 16-10. The scores were 14-2 in six innings and 12-2 in five innings.
“That’s a really good baseball team,” Garmon said. “This is their first year in the AHSAA. In AISA, you travel all over the state every week. They spend the night in hotels every week. For them coming over here playing on a Friday night is not a big deal.”
The Pirates scored early in both games and kept adding to their lead. In game one, they sent 10 batters to the plate in the top of the first inning and scored five runs.
In game two, they held a 7-0 lead after two innings.
“That last game, they had 11 earned runs. In the first game I’m sure it was similar,” Garmon said. “Thirty-one hits in two games is amazing. They hit the ball better than anybody we’ve played all year.”
And the pitching was there for the Pirates too. Lefty Tyde Moore allowed single runs in the bottom of the first and the sixth and scattered six hits with six strikeouts in game one.
In game two, Braedon Banks was equally effective. He allowed just single runs in the third and fourth innings on seven hits.
“I wouldn’t have thought four runs in two games,” Garmon said. “We’ve been scoring eight or nine runs a game. We’ve been hitting the ball well, and we hit the ball well tonight, but we just hit it right to them. Sometimes that happens in baseball.”
In game one, catcher Aaron Kirk was a perfect 4-for-4 with a walk and drove in two runs at the plate to lead the Pirates. Ace Gregory went 3-for-4 with a double and drove in three runs. Banks was 2-for-4 with a two-run double and a walk. Dalton Crowe contributed a pair of hits, including a double and a walk and two runs driven in. Bentley Allen and Jack Moss also managed a pair of hits.
Zane Edwards suffered the loss for the Panthers after working 5 1/3 innings.
Carson Bostick was on the bump for game two for Spring Garden and suffered the loss in five innings. Kirk and Banks picked up three hits against him, with Kirk blasting a two-run homer to left as part of a five-run second. He finished with five RBIs.
Banks drove in three runs, including a two-run single to right center as part of a four-run third. Gregory belted a two-run triple in the second and also had a two-run hit to right in the third. Griffin Hudson also had a pair of hits for the Pirates.
Joel Hunter and Hayes Garmon led the Panthers at the plate in game one. Both went 2-for-3. Connor Bates and Clayton Sadler were both 1-for-2. Bates’ hit was a double. He also walked. Sadler drove in Spring Garden first run on a bloop single to center in the bottom of the first inning.
Garmon was 2-for-3 with a RBI in game two. Bates also went 2-for-3 and drove in a run. Bostick delivered a pair of hits. Noah Barber came off the bench to deliver a hit.
Edwards and Sadler both walked twice.
The sweep marked the end of the baseball careers for 11 Panther seniors.
“It’s a lot of special kids,” Garmon said. “These kids have won a bunch of ball games in every sport.
“I had John Welsh coming off the bench. Hayes hit over .500 this year. He was a tough out all year. Zane Edwards was statistically our best pitcher. He’s a tough out and hits the baseball hard. Joel (Hunter) had a batting average in the .400s. Our top seven guys were all over .300. It was a tough lineup with a bunch of tough kids. They played a lot of baseball together.”
Even with losing so much veteran leadership, Garmon feels the Panthers’ baseball future is bright.
“We’ve got a good solid group coming back,” he said. “We’ve got several freshmen who are loaded with talent. We’re excited about them and hope to be back doing this again next year.”
