March 21, 2014

GGC 10, Hiwassee 2

GGC 5, Hiwassee 3

The Georgia Gwinnett baseball team improved to 28-4 on the year with a doubleheader sweep Friday evening at the Grizzly Baseball Complex of Hiwassee (Tenn.), scoring 10-2 and 5-3 victories.

Senior Garitt Church had a team-high three hits over the two games as GGC bounced back from its first defeat in over a month in its last outing.

The defeats dropped Hiwassee to 12-16-1 on the season.

Starting pitchers Sheldon Connor and Brandon MacKinnon each improved to 5-0 for the Grizzlies.

Game One- GGC 10, Hiwassee 2

The Grizzlies broke open a tie game with a five-run third inning and didn’t look back in a 10-2 victory.

Three different Grizzlies had a two-hit game, including Church’s 2-for-2 performance with three runs scored.

Jake Fields and Ty Abbott each added two hits with a pair of RBIs.

Connor went six innings on the mound, striking out three and not allowing a walk.

Each team scored a pair of runs through the first two innings, then GGC created separation with five runs on four hits in the third, including an RBI double from Fields.

Georgia Gwinnett added one run in the fourth and two in the sixth to coast to victory in the seven-inning game.  Jonathan Spitler finished it with a scoreless final inning on the mound.

Game Two- GGC 5, Hiwassee 3

With its bats going cold, GGC took a fifth-inning lead and added another score in the eighth to edge the Tigers in game two.

Senior Zeke McGranahan ended a bases-loaded threat in the ninth inning by inducing a lineout to shortstop with two outs.

MacKinnon picked up the win by striking out six batters over 5.0 innings, allowing two earned runs.

Sophomore William Paschal doubled and had two of the Grizzlies’ four hits in the game.

The Tigers opened the scoring in the top of the first inning and built a 3-2 lead in the third on an RBI double.

Kyle Norton’s RBI groundout tied the game for GGC in the fourth inning, 3-3.

The Grizzlies took the lead in the fifth when Fields’ grounder to the left side was mishandled and pinch runner Eli Green came around to score.

Church scored Green on a two-out single in the eighth as GGC pushed its lead to 5-3.

The Tigers put two aboard with one out in the top of the ninth, then loaded the bases with two outs, but McGranahan shut the door with a lineout to Church to end the game.

McGranahan now has a team-high four saves on the year.

GGC looks to sweep the series with Hiwassee when the teams conclude things in Madisonville, Tenn., on Saturday at 2 p.m.