April 27, 2014
GGC 8, TFC 1
TFC 7, GGC 4
Capping a highly-successful regular season, the Georgia Gwinnett baseball team split a pair of games on Saturday at Toccoa Falls. The Grizzlies raced to an 8-1 victory in game one before dropping game two by a 7-4 score. Both games were seven innings.
The Grizzlies finish the regular season at 44-9 in just the second year of the program and will compete in their first-ever postseason next week in the Association of Independent Institutions tournament.
Toccoa Falls stands at 27-14.
Game One- GGC 8, TFC 1 (7 innings)
The Grizzlies used a five-run fifth inning to break an early tie and key a string of seven-straight runs in the victory.
The Grizzlies belted five doubles and home runs by Jake Fields and Eli Green in the win.
Starter Alex Roberts struck out five batters over five innings, allowing just one run and scattering five hits.
Fields finished with three RBIs while Sloan Strickland had two. Fields and Jake Fidanza led GGC with two hits apiece.
Robbie Payne’s sacrifice fly gave GGC a 1-0 lead in the third, but TFC leveled the score in the bottom of the inning.
In the fifth, Fields’ two-run homer scored Zach Alvord to put GGC in front by two. Strickland later doubled in the inning, driving in a pair of runs before scoring on a double from Fidanza to make it 5-1.
Fields added an RBI single in the sixth and Green’s homer in the seventh accounted for the game’s final score.
Game Two- TFC 7, GGC 4 (7 innings)
The Grizzlies held a 4-2 lead in the third inning, but a four-run fifth inning proved to be the difference for the Eagles.
Trailing 1-0 in the second inning, Ty Abbott’s double brought in two runs to put the Grizzlies briefly in front.
With the score 2-2 in the third, Bates and Payne both had RBI singles to make it 4-2.
It would be GGC’s last scores of the game, however, as the Eagles scored the last five runs, including four in the fifth inning.
Grizzlies starter Sheldon Connor went 4.0 innings on the mound, while Austin Smith, Jonathan Spitler, Brandon MacKinnon and Zeke McGranahan each made relief appearances.
Both teams had 11 hits in the game.
The Grizzlies will travel to Lynn, Mass., for the 2014 A.I.I. tournament May 2-5. GGC finished the regular season with a 14-win improvement over its inaugural season a year ago.
