High school baseball: Big fifth inning lifts Buchholz to 8-3 win over Ocala Forest

While their classmates enjoy their spring break over pool days and vacations, members of the Buchholz baseball team are steady at work this week.

"I don't remember, as a baseball coach, ever having spring break," Buchholz head coach Ron Brooks said.

Instead, the Bobcats will spend much of their break playing ball as their week slate of three games got underway Monday night as Buchholz topped Ocala Forest 8-3 in a rematch of their March 7th matchup in Ocala.

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Here are takeaways from the Bobcats' win at home.

Buchholz battles adversity in sequel against Forest

The last time these teams met, Buchholz clobbered Forest in an 11-1 run-rule victory.

This time around, the Wildcats weren't going to go down as easily as they plated a pair of runs in the fourth inning to take a slim, 2-1 lead.

After Buchholz had taken a 1-0 lead in the first frame via a RBI double by junior Noah Hayse, Forest fired back with a two-run inning in the fourth thanks to run-scoring hits from senior Trevor Murray and junior Kohl Kilcrease.

The Wildcats would hold their narrow lead until the bottom of the fifth when the Bobcats generated a four-run inning. Junior Anthony Wilkie knocked a RBI single, sophomore Cedaris Smith hit a two-RBI double and senior Nick Taylor added a RBI base hit, giving Buchholz a 5-2 advantage.

The Bobcats would add another trio of runs in the bottom of the sixth, while the Wildcats would add one in the seventh, but it was too little, too late for Forest.

"We battled there," Brooks said of Buchholz's fifth inning. "We had some good at-bats ... We kept our approach, didn't get impatient and kinda got things going in the next inning. I was proud of our guys. We faced a little adversity and we handled it pretty well."

Anthony Wilkie strikes out 11 in 5 innings

Playing three straight games in three days comes with a price, Brooks explained. "It does tax your pitching staff a little bit."

And on Monday night, it was Wilkie who got the nod for the Bobcats, who used four different arms in the win.

Wilkie, who is committed to Clemson, worked through 5.0 innings, tossing 55 strikes on 82 pitches and striking out 11.

"From last year to this year, his confidence level has really gone up," Brooks said of Wilkie. "He's competing with his fastball, he's a strong kid. Everything is really predicated now off his fastball and really attacking hitters. Tonight you saw him attack, attack, attack and I really think now, going in with the confidence he has, this year is going to be real special."

Buchholz finished with 15 strikeouts behind Wilkie, JJ Gardner (1.0 IP, K), Austin Cardozo (0.2 IP, 2 K) and Aiden Kastensmidt (0.1 IP, K).

Quartet turns in multi-hit night for Buchholz

While the Bobcats are deep in the bullpen, they certainly don't lack much, if anything, from the batter's box either.

Buchholz outhit Forest 9-4 as five players recorded hits, four of them with two.

"I like all our kids," Brooks said. "They battle and have a good approach."

While Wilkie produced on the mound, he also notched two hits and a RBI.

Meanwhile, Cooper Collins (2-for-4), Smith (2-4, 4 RBI) and Taylor (2-4, 2 RBI) all helped the Bobcats scratch across runs.

"Any given night, it's going to be one of those guys," Brooks said. "Luckily this year, a lot of those guys have had big hits for us."

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Gainesville Buchholz tops Ocala Forest 8-3 in high school baseball