Feb. 9, 2014
Southern Poly 13, GGC 6
Pat Long and Ty Abbott both homered for the Grizzlies but 17 hits by the Southern Poly offense handed GGC a 13-6 defeat on Sunday in the teams’ series finale at the Grizzly Baseball Complex in Lawrenceville.
The Grizzlies (4-2) built an early 3-0 lead but a four-run fourth inning and a six-run eighth inning propelled the 17th-ranked Hornets (5-1) to the win.
Each of the three games in the series was won by the road team.
“The reality was that we didn’t put the ball in the strike zone today,” said GGC head coach Brad Stromdahl. “We got an early lead but we just didn’t make the plays that we needed to and they took advantage.”
Grizzlies left-hander Brandon MacKinnon struck out two in his first start, leaving with a one-run lead as GGC jumped in front early.
A three-run second inning featured a sacrifice fly by Sloan Strickland and Long’s two-run homer- the first Grizzly long ball of the season- as GGC took a 3-0 lead.
The Hornets picked up a pair of runs in the third inning and surged in front with four runs in the fourth. A two-out triple by Matt Miller highlighted the rally for Southern Poly as the visitors pushed in front, 6-3.
Each team added another run and GGC’s Zeke McGranahan helped slow the Hornets by tossing a scoreless sixth and seventh inning, but SPSU struck for six runs in the top of the eighth to put the game out of reach. Miller finished 4-for-5 at the plate with a game-high five RBIs.
Ty Abbott pinch hit in the bottom of the eighth and launched the first pitch onto the hill in right field for his first home run of the year, but GGC would add just one more score in the 13-6 defeat.
Reliever Teigh Dooley (2-0) earned the win for SPSU while Tyler Oglesby (0-1)- one of seven GGC pitchers on the day- took the loss. The winning team in all three games scored at least 12 runs.
The Grizzlies are slated to return to action Tuesday with a single game at Truett-McConnell at 2 p.m.
