Feb. 14, 2014
GGC 9, Bryan 7
Senior Tyler Carpenter put together a terrific start on the mound and the Georgia Gwinnett baseball team held off a last-inning rally by Bryan (Tenn.), defeating the Lions 9-7 in Friday’s series opener in Lawrenceville.
Carpenter (1-0) held the Lions (2-6) to one run on five hits with eight strikeouts in 8.0 innings, earning his first win of the season.
The Grizzlies (5-2) had eight hits from eight different players and built a 9-1 lead, but the Lions rallied for six runs with two outs in the ninth before GGC’s Jonathan Spitler came on to record his second save of the year and end the threat.
Spitler was able to strikeout the final Lion batter with the bases loaded to preserve the victory.
Georgia Gwinnett’s Ty Abbott drove in a pair of runs and scored a game-high three times to pace the GGC attack, which opened up a 3-0 lead in the first inning.
Abbott hit a two-RBI double to the gap in right-center with two outs in the first inning, then came in to score on a throwing error by the Bryan third baseman.
The Grizzlies struck for two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. With no outs and the bases loaded, Garitt Church grounded into a double play that allowed Abbott to come home from third. Pat Long then struck an RBI double down the left field line to score William Paschal, who reached on a single.
After Bryan score once in the sixth, a two-out RBI double by Robbie Payne scored a run in the bottom of the seventh for GGC.
The Grizzlies added three insurance runs- which proved to be crucial- in the bottom of the eighth on RBI hits by Antonio Allen, Sloan Strickland and Kyle Norton. Stickland’s hit was a triple to deep right-center.
Sheldon Connor immediately recorded two outs in the ninth inning in relief of Carpenter, but then the Lions pieced together six runs on seven hits and were aided by a pair of GGC errors. With the bases loaded, Spitler struck out the Lions’ Preston King with a full count to give the Grizzlies their fourth home win of the year.
The two teams will play a double header at the Grizzly Baseball Complex on Saturday starting at 2 p.m. to close out the series.
