AMERICUS - Georgia Southwestern sophomore pitcher Jordan McIlwain turned in a stellar performance on Friday evening against Augusta University, throwing eight scoreless innings in a 3-1 win in the Peach Belt Conference weekend series opener at Hurricane Stadium.
GSW improved its overall record to 17-13, 3-13 in the PBC while Augusta dropped to 18-11 overall, 8-5 in conference play.
The Hurricanes opened the fifth inning with three consecutive singles and scored the first run of the game when Davey King drove in Zach Barron. A double play and caught stealing shut the door on further damage.
GSW utilized four more singles in the sixth inning to push its lead to 2-0. Barron collected the RBI this time when his single to center field brought home Evan Alderman.
A couple more singles and a walk in the seventh inning set the stage for GSW's final run of the evening as Alex Kranick plated Will Redding with a sacrifice fly to left field.
McIlwain (4-2) exited after the eighth, having thrown 102 pitches. He scattered five hits, walked one, struck out three and faced the minimum in five of the innings. Mitch Holloway was called upon in the ninth to pick up his third save. Holloway walked Clint Hardy to open the inning, allowed Hardy to advance to second on a wild pitch, then surrendered a RBI single to Hunter Boose. Holloway settled in to retire the next three batters and secure the victory.
Augusta starting pitcher Tristan Jones (5-2) threw 4 2/3 innings, allowed seven hits and one run while striking out two. Casey Lenoch surrendered six hits and two runs in his 1 1/3 innings on the hill. Jordan Kelly was called upon for one out and Frank Warren covered the final 1 2/3.
GSW outfielder Devyn Newberry led all batters with three hits. Barron collected two hits along with King and Redding, who extended his current hitting streak to nine games.
Boose, Connor Gilbert and Cole Thompson had two hits apiece for Augusta. Those three batters accounted for all six of the Jaguars hits.
The Hurricanes and Jaguars combined to turn six double plays in the game, each with three.
The series wraps up Saturday with a doubleheader at noon.