The No. 8 Georgia Gwinnett baseball team got the offense going on Saturday, scoring 20 runs on 20 hits over two games to hand Southeastern (Fla.) a pair of defeats, 12-8 and 8-1, to sweep the three-game series in Lakeland, Fla.
The Grizzlies improved to 3-0 on the season as junior shortstop Trevor Bradley combined for four hits Saturday with three RBIs and three runs scored to pace the GGC attack.
"Overall, these were great team wins," said GGC head coach Brad Stromdahl. "We pitched really well both games, with the exception of a couple of innings, but we played well defensively and got some offense going."
The Grizzlies finished the series with a 27-10 scoring margin over the Fire and improved to 5-0 all-time in the series between the two clubs.
Game One- GGC 12, SEU 8
The Grizzlies broke open a tight game in Saturday's first contest with an eight-run seventh inning, then held off a late charge from the Fire (0-3) to secure the win.
Left-handed senior Will Solomon went three scoreless innings on the mound in his first start as a Grizzly, striking out five and allowing just two hits. Five GGC relievers combined to pitch the rest of the game, with junior right-hander Michael Royal (1-0) picking up the win in his first appearance.
Sophomore infielder Marcus McCorkle had two hits and drove in a pair of runs while sophomore infielder Brady Hamilton, who hit 19 home runs a year ago in junior college, went yard for the first of three GGC home runs on the day.
The Grizzlies got the scoring started in the third inning when Bradley and Jereid Woods both singled to begin the frame. Josh Merrigan then drilled an RBI double to right to score Bradley to hand GGC a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, a two-out, bases-loaded walk drawn by McCorkle made it 2-0.
After Southeastern cut it to 2-1 with an RBI single in the fifth, GGC scratched out one more run in the next inning when Woods scored on a two-out wild pitch.
Beginning the top of the seventh up 3-1, the Grizzlies blew the game wide open by scoring eight runs in the inning, sending 12 batters to the plate. McCorkle started the scoring with an RBI single to score Jabari Gayle, and Angel Soto later drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 5-1. Bradley lined an RBI single and Merrigan bounced into an RBI groundout to push the lead to 7-1. Then, with runners on second and third, Hamilton blasted a three-run homer to dead center make it 10-1. Brady Shoppe followed with a walk and Gayle drove him in when his double into left field was mishandled, providing the last tally of the marathon inning.
The GGC outburst would prove to be necessary, however, as Southeastern scored four times in the bottom of the seventh and three more times in the eighth. GGC scored a lone run in the top of the eighth with the help of another Fire error and took a 12-8 lead into the final frame.
Senior utility man Chris Aichinger, who had recorded the last out of the previous inning, was able to set down SEU in order in the ninth to preserve the win.
Game Two- GGC 8, SEU 1
Home runs from Bradley and William Paschal highlighted the offense, and senior right-hander Nikolay Uherek was very effective in his first start as a Grizzly as GGC swept the series from SEU with an 8-1 win.
The Grizzlies had only five hits in the game, but Uherek (1-0) gave up only one himself over 5.0 innings, striking out six batters without allowing a walk.
Senior relievers Tyler Oglesby, Austin Smith and Jeremy Hutchison took over and kept SEU off the scoreboard over the final four innings as an unearned run in the fourth was all the home team pushed across in the contest.
Paschal's first homer of the season was part of a two-run, two-RBI, two-walk game for the senior infielder, while Hamilton also scored a pair of runs.
A ninth inning homer by Bradley made him the only other GGC player with multiple RBIs in the contest.
"Most everybody played and we saw a lot of the adjustments that we need to make for next weekend," Stromdahl added.
Georgia Gwinnett now returns to Lawrenceville for the first home series of the year, to be played Friday through Sunday against St. Francis (Ind.). First pitch Friday from the Grizzly Baseball Complex is slated for 4 p.m.
