Editor’s note: this article has been updated to include tonight’s start time and broadcast info

In this magical 2025 baseball season, the Buchholz Bobcats haven’t faced a lot of adversity on their way to a 30-1 record.

One bad inning in Wednesday’s game one of the Class 6A Region 1 Final against Pace has put the Bobcats up against the wall.

Pace (25-4) scored seven runs in the second inning, capped off by a grand slam by shortstop Madox Land, and cruised from there to an 11-4 win over Buchholz at Bobcat Park.

Pace can wrap up the series on Thursday at Buchholz and advance to the 6A state semifinals in Fort Myers next week. If Buchholz (30-2) wins game two, the series will come down to a deciding third game on Saturday at Pace.

On Wednesday night, the bottom fell out for the Bobcats in the second. Bryce Hatton was hit by a pitch by Buchholz starting pitcher Aidan Kastensmidt, and Dax Brooks reached on an error by Buchholz shortstop Hudson Sapp.

After an out, Cam Lee delivered a two-run single down the right field line for a 2-0 Pace lead. A Buchholz error, a walk and a Pace single loaded the bases for Land.

The Pace shortstop crushed a fastball from Kastensmidt over the right field wall for a grand slam and 7-0 Patriots lead. That drove the Buchholz junior ace pitcher from the game.

“Give credit to them, they came out and executed really well offensively in the second inning,” Buchholz coach Ron Brooks said. “They scored seven runs, and at the end of the day, we didn’t do a good job of playing infield defense. We have to come back tomorrow and do our best to do better defensively.”

Buchholz picked up a run in the bottom of the second to make it 7-1, but Pace put the game away in the fifth on a three-run shot well over the left field wall by Grant Walters for a 10-1 lead.

Kastensmidt hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to draw Buchholz within 10-4, but that’s as close as the Bobcats would get.

The loss ended a 26-game home winning streak for Buchholz dating back to a 4-3 loss to Chiles (Tallahassee) on April 20, 2024. Now the Bobcats face a win-or-go-home game.

“Baseball is a mental game, and you want to take all the positives you can out of it,” Brooks said. “At the end of the day, we know we can play better, we know we can. Hopefully, we can get to Pace on Saturday and make it a really fun series.”

The first pitch is at 6 p.m. tonight. You can listen to the game online (audio only) beginning at 5:45 p.m.