March 15, 2014
GGC 17, OSU Lima 3
Junior Ty Abbott went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs scored as the Georgia Gwinnett baseball team pushed its winning streak to a full month on the calendar and 19-straight games on Saturday with a 17-3 win over Ohio State-Lima at the Grizzly Baseball Complex in Lawrenceville.
The Grizzlies last lost on Feb. 15 and now stand at 25-3 on the year. The Barons dropped to 0-14.
Jereid Woods stayed hot Saturday with a 3-for-4 day, two RBIs and two runs scored as seven different Grizzlies pitched in a multi-hit effort. Georgia Gwinnett finished with 19 hits as a team.
Starter Jonathan Spitler struck out nine batters over six innings without issuing a walk to improve to 2-0.
“We have been playing well as a team during this stretch,” said Grizzlies head coach Brad Stromdahl. “The key has just been putting the ball in the strike zone on the mound and stringing together timely hits at the plate.”
The Grizzlies connected for two runs in their half of the first inning. Abbott started the scoring with a triple to right-center to score Woods, then Christian Van Camp scored Abbott with a sacrifice fly.
GGC added to its lead in the second inning. Garitt Church scored on a wild pitch, Phillip Bates knocked an RBI single, Woods chipped in a sac fly and Abbott added an RBI single as GGC made it 6-0. Abbott scored on a double-steal to plate the final run of the inning.
The Barons scored three times in the top of the third inning to snap a string of 44 straight runs plated by GGC in the series.
Bates drove home Kyle Norton with a two-out double in the third inning to extend the lead to 8-3.
Woods tripled in the sixth inning and scored on an infield single by Abbott. Strickland later drove in Abbott with an infield single of his own. With the bases loaded later in the inning, Kyle Norton singled through the right side with the bases loaded to score a pair and put GGC on top, 12-3. The 13th run came home on a failed pickoff attempt.
Abbott added another RBI with a sac fly in the seventh, then Jamie McKnight tripled and scored on William Paschal’s triple in the eighth to make it 15-3. Church’s sac fly scored the 16th GGC run while Woods’ final RBI single made it 17-3.
The Grizzly offense is now batting .343 on the year.
Georgia Gwinnett reliever Andy Threatt tossed a scoreless seventh inning, Jovanni Cruz did the same in the eighth, and Tyler Oglesby followed in the ninth to finish what Spitler began.
The Grizzlies improved to 21-3 at home on the year and will look to keep it going this week in a pair of key challenges. GGC welcomes each of the last two NAIA World Series champions to Lawrenceville in No. 8 Tennessee Wesleyan on Tuesday and No. 1 Faulkner (Ala.) on Wednesday. Both games are scheduled for 6 p.m.
“We will need to be completely focused and prepared heading into this challenging week on our schedule,” added Stromdahl.
