AMERICUS - The Armstrong State baseball team scored seven runs over the final four innings to pull away from Georgia Southwestern and take the Peach Belt Conference series opener at Hurricane Stadium, 9-1, on Friday evening.
GSW suffered its sixth straight loss to fall to 4-8 this spring, 1-6 in the PBC while Armstrong improved to 10-3 overall, 4-2 in conference play.
Armstrong scored two runs in the second before GSW pushed across its lone run in the bottom half of the inning. Devyn Newberry delivered a two-out single to right field to score Zach Barron.
The Pirates picked up three unearned runs in the sixth to garner a little breathing room. Jerad Curry and Cody Sherlin collected RBI singles while J.T. Phillips belted a RBI double in the inning.
Armstrong added two more runs in the seventh with a RBI single from R.J. Dennard and a sacrifice fly from Curry.
The final two runs of the evening came from Armstrong in the ninth inning. Curry picked up another RBI and Sherlin added a sac fly.
GSW picked up six of their nine hits in the ballgame from the final three spots in the batting order. Barron, Vincent Nunez and Newberry all had two hits apiece. Newberry drove in GSW's lone run.
Kendrick Thompson, Dennard, Curry and Sherlin had three hits apiece to lead Armstrong. Sherlin drove in a team-best four runs and Curry knocked in three.
GSW starter Earl Dupree (0-3) pitched 5 2/3 innings before making way for Jordan McIlwain. Dupree was charged with five runs, although only two were earned. He walked two and struck out three. McIlwain lasted 1 1/3 innings and allowed two runs, walked one and struck out one. Matthew Hubbard tossed the final two frames, surrendered two runs, walked one and struck out one.
Corey Kafka (3-1) pitched the first six innings for Armstrong. He scattered eight hits, walked one and struck out eight. Caleb Woods picked up the three-inning save and kept the Hurricanes off the scoreboard. Woods walked one and struck out four.
GSW and Armstrong wrap up their series on Saturday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader.