Friday, April 25, 2025
The Gatesville Hornets baseball team won their final three games of the Franklin Tournament and headed into Spring Break with a 9-4-1 mark on the year – the same record they had through 14 games in 2024.
The Hornets opened the tournament with a tie against Killeen Shoemaker, then fell to Port Lavaca Calhoun before taking down Bay Area Christian, Yoakum, and Pasadena First Baptist Academy.
Figuring out a pitching rotation over five games in three days can always be a bit of a challenge for a head coach. Staff ace Gehrig Keeton was not scheduled to pitch over the weekend, but Chase Smith got timely pitching from his regulars and a quality long-relief outing from an unexpected source.
“Miles (Tull) had a quality start for us, and John (Ibarra) pitched really well. Thankfully, we had a few guys step up, including Logan Biggs - who hasn’t thrown much at all - come through big for us against Yoakum. Nice to finish up the tournament with three straight wins,” said head coach Chase Smith.
Ibarra struck out 11 and allowed just one run in the 12-3 win over First Baptist Academy in his most productive start of the year. In the 6-2 victory over Yoakum, Biggs made the first pitching appearance of his varsity career and picked up the win.
The senior utility-man entered the game in relief in the top of the first inning with the bases loaded and no outs. He picked up a pair of strikeouts and a line out to escape the inning unscathed, then proceeded to cruise through five innings of work.
Tull turned in a gritty complete game in the 2-1 win over Bay Area Christian. He allowed just three hits over seven innings while striking out two. The junior threw just 60 pitches through the first six innings but used 28 pitches to get through the seventh.
While the pitching staff was key to the 3-1-1 weekend, the offense also began to heat up – led by junior Collyn Coleman, who hit a sizzling .538 over the weekend. As a team, the Hornets banged out 15 extra-base hits over the five-game stretch.
Keeton doubled three times over the weekend, while Coleman and Tull each doubled twice. Bradey James doubled twice and homered against Shoemaker to go along with three singles. Seth Finley reached base four times in seven at-bats over the weekend. Colt Heath drew five walks and was twice hit by a pitch over the five-game stretch.
“Bradey Gist continues to be a bright spot at the plate, and Miles Tull and Bradey James are pretty hot right now,” said Smith. “Another is Colt Heath. He finds ways to get on base from either getting hit or walking; he gets on base just about every time he is up it seems like.”
James is hitting .348 with a pair of homers so far this season with Gist (.323 BA) and Tull (.314) trailing in the batting average category. James has driven in 19 runs in 14 games.
Smith’s 2025 team sports the same record through 14 games as they did last season but has yet to get on track offensively as they are collectively hitting .262 and have struck out 79 times as a team – 21 more than they had at this point last season.
Smith chalks it up to a group of regulars who are seeing their first consistent varsity pitching and putting an inordinate amount of pressure on themselves.
“Our approach early at the plate has really improved, and we have been good with two strikes the last couple of weeks. We struggled offensively early so we focused on that and had to give a little on the defense and pitching time, and by doing that we played a little bit worse on defense and didn’t pitch as well. But, again, if we can put it all together, we are going to be really tough to beat,” said Smith.
Smith added that what is expected from this team is a bit higher than years past as they look to continue their streak of deep playoff runs.
“I think the expectations this year have been so high we have put a lot more emphasis on the mistakes this year than we did last year. The thing these guys do really well is fix things we ask them to work on. We have been giving them a couple of things we are focusing on each game, and they do a really great job with those two, but another area will be a weakness. If we ever put it all together, we will be a really tough team to beat,” he said.
The Hornets had a break for Spring Break following Franklin before resuming play at Madisonville March 13. They will host Temple March 15 in their first home game of the season.
