Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score

LAWRENCEVILLE - After suffering a 6-4 setback in Saturday's first game, junior pitcher Sheldon Connor picked up the slack in impressive fashion, tossing six innings without allowing an earned run as the Georgia Gwinnett baseball team secured an opening series victory over visiting Blue Mountain with a 13-3 win at Grizzly Baseball Complex.

"He was outstanding," GGC Head Coach Brad Stromdahl said of Connor. "He went out there and worked the strike zone, and when you down and in the zone, you're usually going to do well. We were able to score some runs, but Sheldon was the reason we won this game today."

Connor, who is GGC's all-time wins leader with 16 for his career, gave up a pair of hits in the game's opening frame, but he would only surrender four over the ensuing five innings, striking out six without issuing a single walk. He was also able to take advantage of a significant amount of insurance as the Grizzly bats returned to the form of Friday night, scoring in all but one inning and registering 13 hits.

It wasn't just the bats helping out though as the Blue Mountain infield recorded nine errors in the game, including eight through the first three innings, which allowed the Grizzlies to race out to an early 7-2 advantage.

"We were able to get some hits in good situations and we did a good job with our approach, but it's a matter of putting the ball in play," Stromdahl said. "When you put the ball in play, good things tend to happen. We talk about that as an offense because it puts a lot of pressure on the defense and pitcher, especially when you have guys who can steal bases."

Things got started for the offense in the first inning as both Michael Hodorowski and Arsenio Watlington singled to get on base, and then later scored on a pair of errors. A Kyler Timmerman single later in the frame gave Connor a three-run cushion.

Watlington, who tied the record for most hits in a game with a 4-for-5 showing a night ago, matched the mark again, ending the night 4-for-6 with two runs and two more batted in. Hodorowski, a transfer out of Georgia Tech, finished 1-for-4 and crossed home plate three times.

In all, nine different players registered at least one hit in the game, with catcher Brian Jacobs leading the rest of the pack with a 2-for-5 outing.

After taking advantage of an error to pull within two in the top half of the second, the Grizzlies returned the favor twice over in the bottom half of the frame as three BMC miscues resulted in scores for Trey Haygood and Hodorowski to make in 5-1, and it would be the same story an inning later as GGC increased the lead to five runs at 7-2.

From there, Connor hit his stride, allowing just two hits over his final three frames before turning things over to the newcomer trio of Ryan Minteer, Casey Collins and Christian Turnipseed, which combined to allow one unearned run over the game's final three innings.

In the day's early game, a three-run eighth inning proved to be the difference as Blue Mountain became the first opposing team to register a win over GGC on opening weekend in school history. Jeremy Holcomb made the start for the Grizzlies, his first appearance since last season's opening series, and he tossed four innings, allowing a trio of runs (two earned) on four hits and a pair of walks.

Davis Adkins, who worked himself out of a couple jams in the last few innings of the game, couldn't hold it off in the eighth as a Seth Davis leadoff double was followed a few minutes later by a Justin Whitaker single to put the Toppers back in business and peg him with the loss.

"It was disappointing to lose, but when you do, you want to make sure that you learn from your losses," Stromdahl said. "We're a young team in terms of playing together, and hopefully, we can learn from the mistakes from that first game. That's what the opening weekend is all about."

BMC's Jose Delmar earned the win, going 4.2 innings, giving up two hits without allowing a run.

Jake Wright was the only Grizzly to record multiple hits in the contest, ending 2-for-3 with a pair of walks, and as a whole the Green and Gray were out-hit 9-6 by the visitors from Mississippi.

GGC will return to action next week as Talladega will make the trek to Lawrenceville. The Tornadoes currently sit just outside the NAIA Top 25, but went 1-2 this weekend, dropping both ends of a doubleheader at Mobile.

NOTES: GGC is now 8-1 all-time in season-opening series ... GGC has never lost a three or four game series played at Grizzly Baseball Complex ... The Grizzlies scored 36 runs over the three-game set, which ranks as the most in a three-game series since pushing across 41 vs. St. Francis (Ind.) last March ... Arsenio Watlington finished his first weekend with a .571 batting average, knocking in nine runs, scoring five times and swiping four bases ... Jake Wright also scored five times on the weekend, ending 5-for-10 at the plate with six walks ... Watlington joins teammates Jereid Woods and William Paschal as well as former Grizzlies Robbie Payne and Phillip Bates as the only players in school history to register multiple four-hit outings ... His six at-bats in the Saturday's second game also ties the school record ... Sheldon Connor's 16 wins have come in 23 starts, which ranks second on the all-time games started list, trailing only former Grizzly Tyler Carpenter's 26 ... Connor has five more wins than any other pitcher in school history as both Carpenter and Drew Riley finished their careers with 11 ... Connor's six strikeouts helped him reclaim the second spot on the all-time strikeouts list from Alex Roberts, who passed him yesterday ... Connor now has 94 for his career, two more than Roberts.

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