Box Score

COCHRAN, Ga. - Tuesday may have marked the first away game for the Georgia Gwinnett baseball team, but the squad's first nine-inning contest on the road will have to wait as the fifth-ranked Grizzlies routed Middle Georgia 20-5 in seven innings at Stuckey Field.

With the victory, the Grizzlies improved to 23-5 on the year, and after spending the last week at No. 3, the team dropped two spots earlier in the evening in the NAIA Top 25 poll.

MGA's record fell to 10-16.

Just days after setting the single-game hits record, the Grizzly offense was once again in full force on Tuesday as the team posted 20 runs for the second time on the year. Collectively, the Green and Gray pounded out 15 hits in the game, led by the 1-2 punch of Ty Abbott and Kyler Timmerman in the heart of the line-up as the duo combined to go 7-for-11 at the plate with nine runs batted in and six scores.

Two other Grizzlies enjoyed multiple-hit games with William Paschal ending 2-for-5 with three RBI, and Arsenio Watlington finishing 2-for-3 with three scores. Marcus McCorkle may have only had one hit on the night, but he proved to be patient at the top of the GGC line-up, drawing a school-record-tying four walks and scoring four times.

GGC starting pitcher Ryan Minteer was responsible for giving up all five runs by the Knights, allowing five hits and striking out eight over six innings before Andy Threatt and Jovanni Cruz came on to collect the final three outs. Minteer, a junior transfer out of Venetia, Pa., improved to 4-0 on the year.

The Grizzlies scored the game's first six runs, pushing a pair across on an Abbott double and Paschal single in the opening stanza and then three Knight errors and three more GGC hits in the second made it 6-0 heading into the bottom of the frame.

MGA would finish the night with seven errors.

A Payton Kell three-run blast temporarily put Knights on the comeback trail, but four more GGC hits and four more runs in the ensuing half-inning put that to rest as the Grizzly lead would not be challenged again.

The Knights would score a single consolation run in both the fifth and the sixth frames, and 12 Grizzlies stepped to the plate in seventh en route to a seven-run frame to secure a third consecutive victory for GGC.

The Green and Gray will return to action on Thursday as they welcome in Ohio State Lima for a four-game set at Grizzly Baseball Complex.

NOTES: GGC is 40-13 all-time in the month of March ... Arsenio Watlington trails Phillip Bates by just three stolen bases for a school record season total ... The Grizzlies are 27-24 all-time vs. schools that hail from the state of Georgia ... Kyler Timmerman enjoyed his second four-hit outing of the season on Tuesday, marking the sixth time this year that a Grizzly has tied the school's all-time hits record ... GGC has now won its first road game in each of its three seasons of existence.

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