There was no comeback victory in the cards on Wednesday for the Georgia Gwinnett baseball team as the Grizzlies once again spotted their opponents a 3-0 first-inning lead and this time fell by a 10-2 score to St. Thomas (Fla.) on the second day of the 2015 NAIA Baseball National Championships Opening Round Lawrenceville Bracket at the Grizzly Baseball Complex.
The top-seeded Grizzlies (48-13) now face a series of must-win games if they hope to capture a second straight Lawrenceville Bracket title and extend their season, beginning with an 11 a.m. contest on Thursday against second-seeded Westmont.
Four defensive errors were costly in the Wednesday defeat to 20th-ranked and third-seeded St. Thomas, as GGC dug a 6-0 hole over the first two innings.
The offense was paced by a three-hit day from Ty Abbott, but the Bobcats tallied 16 hits en route to the win.
Georgia Gwinnett reliever Davis Adkins shouldered much of the load on the mound, entering in the second inning and recording 21 outs- including nine by strikeout- before leaving in the ninth inning.
Single runs in the fourth and sixth innings were all GGC could muster. St. Thomas was sharp defensively and turned away Grizzly rallies time and again, turning four double plays in the game.
St. Thomas now awaits the survivor of the loser's bracket for the first of two possible championship games on Thursday afternoon.
For the second time in as many days Wednesday, the Grizzlies spotted their opponent a 3-0 first-inning lead. A string of ground ball singles and a double helped the Bobcats go ahead by three in the top of the first.
A forgettable play in the second inning featuring a pair of Grizzly throwing errors helped the Bobcats to push across three more scores in the frame and claim a 6-0 lead.
Georgia Gwinnett climbed on the board in the bottom of the fourth, loading the bases with one out on a pair of walks and a single. Another walk to Ernesto Vazquez pushed in the Grizzlies' first score, but an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play limited the damage.
Once again in the bottom of the fifth the St. Thomas defense held as GGC threatened, rolling up another inning-ending double play to maintain the five-run cushion.
The Bobcats added two more scores in the top of the sixth, then GGC scored on an RBI groundout by Brian Jacobs in the bottom of the inning to make it 8-2.
St. Thomas padded its lead with another pair of runs in the ninth.
Three Bobcats pitchers, including winning reliever Tyeler Checkley, combined to keep GGC off balance and advance in the double-elimination event.
In the day's first game, Westmont and Spring Arbor engaged in a marathon back-and-forth affair, with Westmont surviving for a 13-10 victory to move on to Wednesday evening's nightcap against St. Catharine.
In the finale, Westmont continued its run by holding off and eliminating St. Catharine, 6-2, thanks in part to a 13-strikeout performance from starter Andrew Vasquez.
