Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score

COLUMBUS, Ga. - The Georgia Gwinnett baseball team further cemented itself as the nation's top offense on Tuesday as the sixth-ranked Grizzlies pushed 23 runs across in a pair of seven-inning victories over Thomas at Golden Park.

With the wins, the Grizzlies, which fell from No. 5 to No. 6 in the NAIA Top 25 poll earlier Tuesday, sit at 33-6 on the season. Thomas dropped to 15-19-1.

The offense was led on the day by a strong pair of outings from William Paschal. The junior out of Norcross went 3-for-4 in each game as the Grizzlies outhit the Nighthawks 22-9 for the day. Paschal, who was less than 24 hours removed from tying the school's single-game hits record, made his biggest impression in the opener, doubling twice and tallying his first home run of the season to lead the team to an 11-0 victory. He was one of eight Grizzlies to register a hit in the second game, helping GGC to a 12-4 decision.

Ryan Minteer made the start on the mound in the first game and moved to 5-1 on the year after allowing just two base-runners over the game's first four frames. Davis Adkins, Ryan Turner and Casey Collins combined to give up a single hit and a walk over the last three innings as the Grizzlies chalked up their third shutout of the season.

After Paschal opened up the scoring with a solo shot in the game's second inning, Trey Haygood earned a walk and ultimately scored on an Ernesto Vazquez sacrifice fly to double the advantage. Both Paschal and Haygood would be involved again in the fourth, with the former scoring on a stolen base and the latter touching home via a Brian Jacobs sac fly to make it 4-0.

Just an inning later, the game truly opened up as the whole line-up got into the action with a five-hit, seven-run frame to end any hope of a Nighthawk comeback.

In the day's second game, the trio of Arsenio Watlington, Brady Shoppe and Ty Abbott were near perfect at the plate as the top three spots in the Grizzly line-up combined to go 6-for-7 with eight scores, five runs batted in and three walks.

Watlington, a junior out of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, was hit by a pitch to start off the contest and picked up his nation-leading 38th stolen base of the season to move into scoring position. A single from Abbott brought him home later in the frame, and Haygood would plate another as GGC grabbed an early 2-0 advantage for the second time on the day.

Abbott, who would pick up two more RBI later in the game, has now driven in 59 runs this season, five more than any other player in the NAIA.

Unlike the day's opener, TU was able to mount a quick response, scoring a pair off of GGC starter Joseph Boatright to tie things up before sending the game into the second.

Boatright, who was making his first career start for the Green and Gray, allowed four hits over four innings, striking out two.

A Watlington single and Shoppe homer, both with two outs in the second, re-established the two-run cushion, which would hold until the Nighthawks picked up a pair off of Grizzly reliever Heath Durand in the bottom of the fifth. Andy Threatt would replace Durand on the mound with one out left in the inning, inducing a groundout to stop the bleeding and strand the go-ahead run on second.

Threatt would go on to be credited with the victory, taking his season record to 5-0.

The Grizzly line-up got back to work in the sixth, thanks in part to a handful of TU mistakes as two walks and a pair of hit-by-pitches put GGC ahead. A Kyler Timmerman fielder's choice, two more walks and error resulted in three more scores to create some breathing room at 8-4.

Five hits and four more runs an inning later effectively put the game out of reach for TU as the Grizzlies grabbed their sixth consecutive victory.

GGC will return to action later this week with a three-game series at USC Beaufort. Action is set to begin on Friday at 1 p.m., and it will conclude with a doubleheader Saturday as the team looks to close out its 10-game road swing in style.

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