Gardner enters record book with 18 HRs
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Itawamba Community College | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 17 | 0 |
|
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 2 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Itawamba Community College | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 15 | 12 | 0 |
|
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 1 |
PERKINSTON — Garrett Gardner slugged two more home runs for Mississippi Gulf Coast in a pair of games here Wednesday against Itawamba, giving him the third most in school history.
The Bulldogs lost 14-6 and 15-5 to Itawamba to end the season, the last game ending in five innings.
Gardner, a freshman second baseman from Madison, finished with 18 homers, the most since Brandon Parker hit 26 back in 2018. It's the third most in school history, one off second place.
"He's had a phenomenal season," Gulf Coast coach Zach Allen said. "His approach changed a little bit when he got here, and it freed him up a little bit. He put a lot really hard work in, and the results were those 18 homers. To say we expected that wouldn't be the truth, but what we got out of was huge. The future for him is really bright."
Gardner hit a solo homer in the third inning of the first game to tie the score at 3. Naji Cain (So., Columbia/Columbia) lined his third homer of the season over the left-center wall for a 6-4 lead in the fourth.
Itawamba scored 10 times in the fifth to win the game.
Gardner had two hits, as did Braxton Jones (Fr., Perkinston/Stone). Connor Tice (Fr., Wiggins/Stone) struck out two in two no-hit innings of relief.
Gardner's 18th home run was another solo shot in the first inning of Game 2.
The Bulldogs scored four times in the fourth inning to get within 8-5, but Itawamba pulled away again.
Gardner was the only Bulldog with two hits in the second game. Ben Davis (Fr., Lucedale/George County) doubled.
"They dealt with a lot of injuries, a lot of ups and downs, but they kept fighting the whole season," Allen said. "That was one thing that we preached. Things didn't quite go our way, but they didn't quit, they never stopped. That was their mantra: to keep going. It didn't fall our way, but they kept fighting."
Gulf Coast ended the season 37-21, 11-17 MACCC. Itawamba is 32-17, 19-9.
For more information on MGCCC's 12 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.
