AMERICUS - Senior third baseman Alex Kranick extended his hitting streak to 16 games as the Georgia Southwestern baseball team took one of three games against Lander University over the weekend at Hurricane Stadium. GSW lost a 16-12 slugfest in 10 innings on Saturday in the opener, bounced back for a 9-6 win in the doubleheader nightcap, but fell behind early on Sunday in the finale and lost, 19-5.
The Hurricanes finished the weekend with a record of 11-15 overall, 5-7 in the Peach Belt Conference, while Lander left town with a mark of 12-14, 6-6 in conference play.
GSW returns to action on Friday at 7 p.m. for Game 1 of a three-game, non-conference series at Auburn Montgomery.
GAME 1: GSW 12, LANDER 16 (10 INN.)
The Hurricanes jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the series opener after scoring a run in the first inning, another in the second and two more in the third. Kranick singled in the first and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Will Redding. Kranick was back at work in the second with an RBI double that scored Clay Patrick. In the third inning, reigning Peach Belt Freshman of the Week Jonathan Martin delivered a two-run single to center field to score Jared Jones and Zach Barron.
Lander erased the Hurricanes lead in the fourth with a pair of two-run home runs and jumped ahead in the fifth with two runs, one coming by way of a leadoff home run.
GSW answered with two runs in the bottom half of the fifth to even the score at 6-6.
Trailing 11-7 in the eighth inning, GSW rallied once again. This time it was a four-hit, four-run barrage. Patrick doubled to open the frame, Kranick picked up another RBI. Josh Logan delivered a two-run single.
Following a Lander run in the ninth, Patrick forced the extra inning with a solo home run in the bottom half of the frame, his second of the season.
In the tenth, Lander sealed the win with four runs.
Kranick, Barron, Patrick and Evan Alderman had three hits apiece in the opener. Logan and Martin knocked in three runs. GSW had a season-best 19 hits, but was one shy of the Bearcats.
Colton Yeager led Lander with four hits. Nathan Schreckengost and Bailey Connell added three hits apiece. The Bearcats belted four home runs in the game.
GSW used seven pitchers. Lander threw four. GSW starter Kyle Spinks did not factor in the decision after 4 2/3 innings on the mound. Mitch Holloway (3-2) took the loss.
GAME 2: GSW 9, LANDER 6
The Hurricanes grabbed another four-run advantage out of the gates in Game 2 and this time Lander would never get a taste of the lead.
Alderman, Barron, Dakota Long and Martin picked up RBIs in the first inning to put GSW on top, 4-0. Lander answered with two runs in the second and two more in the third, but Martin put the Hurricanes ahead for good in the bottom of the third with an RBI single that plated Barron.
GSW opened a comfortable lead in the fourth with another four-run frame, its third of the day.
Alderman, Barron and Long had two hits apiece to lead the Hurricanes.
Connell went 3-for-5 for Lander. Yeager and Reed Gray belted home runs.
GSW starting pitcher Dylan Brown (2-3) went eight innings, walked three and struck out five over 123 pitches. Andrew Patrick picked up his first save of the spring by throwing a scoreless ninth after inheriting runners on first and second base.
GAME 3: GSW 5, LANDER 19
A six-run first inning is all Lander would need to take the series finale on Sunday. The Bearcats added runs in the next four frames, for good measure, and led 19-1 heading to the bottom of the fifth.
Kranick kept his hitting streak alive and extended it to 16 games, second-longest in program history since joining the NCAA in 2007, with a single in the fifth.
The Hurricanes did not have a batter finish with multiple hits in Game 3.
Yeager and Alex Conaway both collected three hits for Lander. Conaway hit one of the three Lander home runs on Sunday, added a triple and six RBIs.
GSW starting pitcher Jordan McIlwain (2-3) was roughed up over two innings. Coty Graham kept Lander off the board for 1 1/3 innings. Graham did not allow a hit, walked one and struck out two.