April 15, 2014

Box Score

The Georgia Gwinnett baseball team moved up one place to fourth overall in Tuesday’s NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll before falling to third-ranked Faulkner (Ala.) by a 6-1 score Tuesday evening in Montgomery, Ala.

The Grizzlies jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning but a fifth-inning homer helped push Faulkner in front and the Eagles added late insurance runs to secure the win.

The Grizzlies, who secured a first-place vote for the second straight poll, fell to 40-7 overall on the year with the loss. Faulkner, the defending NAIA national champion which received a pair of first-place votes Tuesday, improved to 37-10.

Both teams were awarded one of nine NAIA Baseball Opening Round host sites earlier in the day, securing a spot for each in the national tournament.

Two of the Grizzlies’ seven losses this year have come against the Eagles.

Starter Brandon MacKinnon went 5.2 innings for GGC Tuesday, allowing just two runs.

The Grizzlies tallied their lone run in the top of the first to take an early lead. Phillip Bates doubled and later scored on an RBI single by Robbie Payne.

Faulkner tied the game on a solo home run by Randy Joung, and an RBI double pushed the Eagles ahead.

A sacrifice fly in the seventh made it 3-1, then Faulkner added its final three runs in the eighth.

The two teams will conclude their season series Wednesday evening in Montgomery with a 6 p.m. CT local start at Harrison Field.