MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – The Georgia Southwestern State University baseball team shook off a rough outing in Game 1 of the weekend Peach Belt Conference series played at John Kurtz Field against 6th-ranked Georgia College to take a lead into the eighth inning of both games on Saturday before falling just short of notching an upset. GSW suffered a 16-2 loss in the opener on Friday before regrouping to play within a run of the Bobcats in both games of the doubleheader on Saturday. The Hurricanes lost Game 2, 3-2, and dropped the finale, 6-5.

The Hurricanes come out the weekend with a record of 3-7 overall, 0-3 in the PBC, while Georgia College improved to 8-4, 3-0 in conference play.     
 
NOTES 

• All four of Georgia College's losses this season came at home against No. 2 University of Tampa.
• The Hurricanes fall to 2-13 on the road against Georgia College and 7-26 overall since joining the NCAA Division II ranks in 2007. 

STANDOUT PERFORMERS

• Matthew Mamatas led GSW at the plate over the weekend. Mamatas went 6-for-11 (.545) with a double, a walk and an RBI. 
• Jacob Harrell slapped four hits, including a double, drove in a run and was walked twice.
• Miguel Urbina made the most of his first at bats of the spring by going 2-for-4 with a double.
• Jason Baita hit the Hurricanes only home run of the series and moved back into a tie for the team lead with three this season.    
• Tucker Smith continues to shine on the hill. Smith pitched eight innings in Game 2, scattered nine hits, held the Bobcats to a pair of runs - one earned - and struck out seven. He has not walked a batter through his three starts and 23 innings pitched this season.
• Game 3 starting pitcher Sage Holderfield kept the Hurricanes out in front until stumbling out of the gate in the sixth inning. His stat line reads five innings pitched, six hits, three earned runs and four strikeouts. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Bobcats erupted for nine runs and seven hits (all singles) in the first inning of the series opener, added a run in the second and led 13-1 after the fourth. The two errors GSW committed in the first inning, which led to a pair of the runs being unearned, were the only two errors of the game for the Hurricanes. 
• GSW scored the first run of Game 2 in the third inning. Harrell walked to open the frame and scored three batters later from third on Jonathan Martin's ground out to the first baseman. 
• Bo Halcomb gave GSW a 2-0 lead in Game 2 with an RBI single up the middle in the fifth inning.
• Georgia College, trailing 2-1, opened the eighth inning of Game 2 with three consecutive singles and pushed across the tying run on a fielder's choice. Smith did an excellent job of getting a double-play ground ball to get out of the jam and keep the Hurricanes even heading to the ninth where the Bobcats delivered a two-out, bases-empty rally with back-to-back singles, an intentional walk and a walk-off single.
• The Hurricanes led 4-0 after the second inning of Game 3 sparked by an RBI double from Urbina and Baita's two-run blast to right field in the second. 
• Georgia College answered with a run in the fourth and three in the sixth to tie things up. Harrell delivered a two-out single in the eighth to score Mamatas, but the Bobcats had an answer in the bottom half of the frame with two runs to complete the sweep.
• GSW left the bases loaded in the sixth and the eighth innings of the finale.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS 

• GSW was out-hit in the series (39-26).
• The Hurricanes left 31 runners on base, Georgia College stranded 25.
• GSW put the leadoff man aboard on 8 of 27 opportunities (.296).
• The Hurricanes were 0-for-2 at the plate with the bases loaded and 8-for-39 (.205) with an RBI opportunity.
• GSW's favorite inning to score in was the second. They pushed across three over the weekend.
• The bullpen surrendered 10 earned runs over 11 1/3 innings and allowed 18 hits over the weekend.
• Left-handed batters for Georgia College went 22-for-43 (.512) against GSW pitching. 

UP NEXT

• The Hurricanes travel to Atlanta on Tuesday to face NCAA Division I Georgia State University at 4 p.m.