March 1, 2014
GGC 4, USCB 2
GGC 14, USCB 8
The Georgia Gwinnett baseball team set a new school mark by winning its 10th and 11th straight games on Saturday, finishing a sweep of South Carolina Beaufort with 4-2 and 14-8 victories at the Grizzly Baseball Complex.
“We used some really timely hitting and pitching today to beat a very good team,” said Grizzlies head coach Brad Stromdahl. “We needed everything that we got today from our whole team to pick up two more victories.”
The Grizzlies now stand at 17-3 on the season and dropped the Sand Sharks to 9-8.
Game One- GGC 4, USCB 2
Zach Alvord’s sixth inning two-run single lifted the Grizzlies to a 4-2 win in game one, as GGC was outhit 11-4 but still found a way to win its 10th straight.
Grizzlies starter Drew Riley managed to scatter 10 hits, allowing just a single run in each of the fourth and fifth innings.
Antonio Allen made a diving catch in foul territory to end a bases-loaded jam in the second inning. Riley stranded runners at second and third in the next inning with a flyout to right.
The Sand Sharks had built a two-run lead in the fifth inning, when a sacrifice fly by John Fidanza put GGC on the board to make it 2-1.
The Grizzlies loaded the bases in the sixth inning, and Christian Van Camp drew a walk on a full count to bring in the tying run at 2-2. Alvord then drove in the go-ahead runs with a single into left field, giving GGC its final 4-2 advantage.
The GGC pitching staff, led by winner Tyler Oglesby (1-1), held the Sand Sharks scoreless the rest of the way, stranding 10 USCB runners.
Game Two- GGC 14, USCB 8
In game two, the Grizzlies broke out for 17 total hits, including a pair of home runs, to outslug the Sand Sharks, 14-8.
Phillip Bates went 3-for-6 at the plate while six more Grizzlies finished with two hits in the game.
Georgia Gwinnett scored in all five innings in which USCB scored.
After the Sand Sharks opened the scoring in the top of the second, the Grizzlies scored twice in the bottom of the inning, highlighted by John Fidanza’s RBI double.
GGC pushed across two more runs in the third with Garitt Church’s two-run single and took a 4-1 lead.
The Sand Sharks scored twice in the top of the fourth, but GGC extended its lead in the bottom of the inning. After a defensive error kept the Grizzlies alive, GGC capitalized with Ty Abbott’s three-run, two-out homer off the right field foul pole. The blast was Abbott’s second of the season.
After USCB cut the deficit to 7-5 with two runs in the fifth, Fidanza again doubled Church home from first to start a three-run fifth inning for GGC as the Grizzlies extended the lead to 10-5.
Van Camp belted his first home run of the year in the sixth, a two-run shot, as GGC made it 12-6.
The Sand Sharks cut it to 12-8 with two more runs in the seventh, but an inning-ending double play kept USCB from drawing any closer.
William Paschal’s RBI single added to the cushion in the bottom of the inning and Robbie Payne’s RBI single accounted for the final GGC run in the eighth.
Austin Smith’s two-inning relief effort picked up the win on the mound as five different pitchers combined for eight strikeouts.
With the game-two win, the Grizzlies eclipsed last year’s 10-game winning streak.
Georgia Gwinnett returns to action on Tuesday with a 2 p.m. visit to Southern Poly before starting a 10-game homestand March 7 against St. Francis (Ind.).
