Savannah, Ga. – The Georgia Southwestern baseball team dropped Game 1 and 2 of the weekend Peach Belt Conference series with Armstrong Atlantic, 4-5 and 3-4, respectively. On Saturday afternoon the Hurricanes took to Pirate Field achieving doubles by Jarrod Taylor, Stephen Eldridge, and Devyn Newberry.
GSW ends the day with a 3-10 overall record, 1-4 in the PBC, while Armstrong sits at 8-3, 4-1 in PBC play.
The three-game series continues on Sunday, February 23 at 1:00 p.m.
GAME 1: GSW 4, ARMSTRONG 5
The Hurricanes started scoring early on Saturday morning. After Josh Sanders was the first batter walked in the first inning, Stephen Eldridge came up and hit a double into right field allowing Sanders to score.
Armstrong responded in the bottom of the second inning when Ryan Patterson's single brought Joey Lupus in. Adding to the momentum Zach Lance sent a sacrifice fly into the right field to allow Ryan Patterson to score. The inning ended with two runs, four hits, no errors, and two left on base. The following inning for Armstrong R.J. Dennard hit a home run, bring the score Pirates 3-1.
The Hurricanes had an eventful fourth inning with three runs. The first run of the inning came from Zach Moss, who was able to advance home from Devyn Newberry getting grounded out at first. Neal Chambless was the next to hit home base after Josh Sanders hit a single bunt up to the pitcher. The final run was achieved when Dylan Griffin sent a single into right field allowing Josh Sanders to make it home. The inning finished with 3 runs, four hits, no errors, and one left on base.
Going into the bottom of the ninth inning GSW was leading by one. Pitcher Matt Suggs struck out the first batter looking, then walked the next one. Coty Graham came in to relieve Suggs. The second batter that Graham faced was Dennard. Dennard was able to hit his second homerun of the game bringing in fellow Pirate also. The game ended Armstrong 5-4.
The blast made a winner out of Justin Adkins (1-0), who hurled three innings of three-hit shutout relief for his first win of the season. Reliever Coty Graham (1-1), who gave up the two-run home run to Dennard, took the loss, giving up one hit and one run in 1/3 of an inning pitched.
GAME 2: GSW 3 ARMSTRONG 4
The Hurricanes started the game strong when Eldridge sent a sacrifice fly out to centerfield to bring Devyn Newberry in from third base.
Eldridge was a key component again singling into the center field; he brought Newberry in the third inning as well. Armstrong retaliated with a run in the bottom of the third when Clayton Miller repeated Eldridge's actions bringing in Matt Wisniewski.
Jarrod Taylor sent a ball down the left line in the fifth inning allowing Newberry to complete the third run. In the bottom of the fifth, Armstrong's Miller hit a homerun into left field also bringing in fellow Pirate Zach Lance. Bringing the game to three-all. Armstrong added one more run in the seventh inning to end the game.
Zac Wittmus (0-3) took the loss for the Hurricanes, giving up eight hits and four runs in eight innings of work, walking two and striking out six.
Ethan Bader (4-0) notched the win for the Pirates, hurling seven innings of nine-hit three-run ball, striking out eight. Ryan Good added a save with two innings of shutout relief.