Oxford, AL – Harrison’s double, another strong pitching outing key Choccolocco Monsters’ 5-1 victory over the Gainesville GolDiggers, propel Monsters to sole possession of first in Sunbelt League.
By Joe Medley
Whatever becomes of the chance the Choccolocco Monsters have earned, their return season to Oxford just keeps getting better.
Hayes Harrison’s three-run double in the fourth inning put the Monsters on top, and their league-best pitching kept them there for a 5-1 victory over the Gainesville GolDiggers in Saturday’s showdown for sole possession of first place in the Sunbelt League.
The Monsters (17-7), winners of nine of their last 10 games, lead the second-place GolDiggers (16-8) by one game and the third-place Atlanta Crackers by three games with four regular-season games left.
The top six teams make the league’s playoff, and the top two seasons get a first-round bye.
The GolDiggers came to Oxford with a one-and-a-half-game lead and left one game down. The Monsters overcame a 5-0 deficit to walk off with a 7-6 win on Friday.
This in their 2024 return to Oxford after playing their 2023 season in Columbus, Ga.,
“This group is really special, and I’ve really enjoyed playing with these guys,” said Harrison, the 2023 Alabama Mr. Baseball and Gatorade Player of the Year for Alabama after his contributions in Oxford’s state-title run. “Everybody kind of mixes well, and we’re having a lot of fun playing together for this summer.
“It’s really special and really good.”
The rally to win Friday on Jake Goolsby’s walk-off single set the tone, and the Monsters came back again Saturday, after Jackson Price’s RBI double put the GolDiggers up 1-0 in the second inning.
The combination of Howell Polk and relievers Caleb Jatko, Thomas Ballard and Avery Brown settled down after that and showed why the Monsters lead the Sunbelt in team ERA. They spread out 10 GolDiggers hits with no walks and 11 combined strikeouts.
Harrison put the Monsters ahead in the fourth, clearing the bases with a double.
“That’s the guy we want up in the big situations,” Monsters coach Ricky Ray Clayton said. “That’s him. He did it last night and did it tonight, got us going.
“I think we had first and second in the first inning, bases loaded in the second inning, bases loaded in the third inning and didn’t get nothing. No outs. In the fourth, bases loaded and no outs, and didn’t get it on out number one, didn’t get it on out number two, and he come up with two outs and a big knock.”
They added two fifth-inning runs when Mason Walker scored on a wild pitch and Trey Higgins stole home.
It’s all the Monsters needed as the round third and head to home in the regular season. They play the Atlanta Blues on the road Monday and Tuesday then finish the regular season at home, against the Alpharetta Aviators on Friday and Saturday.
The good news? The Monsters’ last four games come against bottom-half Sunbelt teams.
The bad news? Saturday’s game marked the last Monsters games for the first two hitters in the Monsters’ order, leadoff hitter Rashad Robinson and Cole Tremain. Both have to leave to make preparations for their coming college seasons.
Robinson has transferred to Jacksonville State. He’s lived with Monsters general manager Roby Brooks this summer.
“He hasn’t missed a day here, but he’s got to go home and get a lot of things done,” Clayton said. “He’s got to get ready for school.”
Tremain, whom Clayton calls “the best player in our league,” just came out of the transfer portal from Baylor and will finish his college career at Cal. He drove 12 hours from Waco to play for the Monsters this season and faces 35 hours of driving to cover 2,380 miles to Berkeley, Calif.
Good offseason travel training, since the Sacramento native and his Cal teammates are about to embark on play in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“He reports on a little different day, and he’s got to go all the way across the country,” Clayton said. “He’s a grad student, and he’s got to get into grad school there. …
“It’s totally understandable. There’s not much he can do about it. He’s got things he’s got to do, and we’re going to miss him. God, we’re going to miss him.”
In a summer wood-bat league working with college players, early departures come with the territory.
“You know some situations coming in,” Clayton said. “Cole, he was in the portal and didn’t know what was going to happen and just recently, this week, got Cal. …
“I’m happy for him.”
