The Georgia Southwestern baseball team scored three runs in the ninth inning to take game 1 of their weekend series with Flagler College in dramatic fashion, 12-11, on Friday evening at Hurricane Stadium.
GSW improves to 17-7 overall and 7-3 in PBC play. The 'Canes are 11-1 at home this season.
The visiting Saints led 4-0 after the first inning and 6-0 heading to the bottom of the fourth. That’s when GSW made their first rally of the contest.
The Hurricanes scored six runs on seven hits and the team hit for the cycle in the inning. Trent Dooley, Paschel Poston, Kevin Carroll and Shane Doyle collected singles. Chris Lingham doubled, Zack Stanton had an RBI triple and Byron Haynes belted a two-run home run.
With three runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth, Flagler had regained the lead and extended the margin to 11-6.
Southwestern chipped at the lead in the seventh with a three-run frame. Haynes started the inning with a double. Doyle added an RBI single and Bud Long drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
Hurricane reliever Brandon Reeder set Flagler down in order in the eighth and ninth, striking out five of six batters faced along the way.
That set the stage for the Hurricanes game-winning rally in the ninth. Carroll and Jared Allen opened the inning with a pair of singles. Doyle laid down a sacrifice bunt that was fielded by the FC third baseman and thrown over the head of the first baseman and rolled deep into right field foul territory. Carroll and Allen scored; Doyle ended up at third. After Lingham was intentionally walked, Heath Lock brought the winning run across on a sacrifice fly to right.
Reeder (2-0) tossed 4.1 innings of relief to pick up the win. Reeder held Flagler to four hits, allowed two runs, walked one and struck out eight.
Tyler McKendree (1-2) entered in the ninth for Flagler and suffered the loss after allowing two hits and the three unearned runs.
Kevin Carroll led GSW at the plate with a 4-for-5 performance. Carroll knocked in a run and scored three times. Haynes, Poston and Doyle had two hits apiece.
The Hurricanes wraps up the series with Flagler (17-12, 5-5 PBC) on Saturday with a doubleheader at 1 p.m.
