At our press time, the Buchholz High baseball team was enjoying another winning season in its first under new head coach David Banes. The squad had a 12-3 record and was looking forward to traveling to Jacksonville Mandarin for the Class 6A-District 1 Tournament the week of Monday, April 21-Friday, April 25.

Recently, the Bobcats made it to the finals of the Alachua County Championships, where they were set to face Santa Fe for the title. However, the game was rained out and was not rescheduled.

The Bobcats added three straight wins to their already-impressive total. Buchholz posted a 16-hit, 17-5 rout of Ocala Forest. Will Allen had three hits for the Bobcats, while Drew Gadaire, Joey Fluriach, Brett Bozeman, Pedro Jimenez and Matt Smith each had 2 hits. Bozeman also hit his third HR of the season, as four Buchholz pitchers held Ocala Forest to six hits over seven innings.

The Bobcats also topped Gainesville 9-1, which marked Buchholz second victory against the Hurricanes this season. The ‘Cats were led by Kevin Prindle, who went 3-for-4 and scored two runs. Buchholz pitcher Morgan McKinney threw five innings and gave up just one run and one hit.

The squad posted its third victory that week against Tallahassee Chiles.

One of the Bobcats’ three losses this year came against District rival Jacksonville Sandalwood.

The Bobcats were planning to spend spring break in Fort Myers at the Bishop Verot Tournament.

Varsity roster: Corey Turner, Jardian Thomas, Brett Bozeman, Morgan McKinney, Jorge Olmo, Matt Smith, Drew Gadaire, Steven and Michael Ragans, Alex Graham, Kurt Wietzke, Tyler Bofinger, Kevin Prindle, Joey Fluriach, Cody Chatman, Pedro Jimenez, Daniel Vaughn, Stuart Charleston, Will Allen and Ben Joseph.