The newly No. 1 ranked Georgia Gwinnett baseball team powered its way to victory on Tuesday night as the Grizzlies defeated in-state rival Reinhardt 13-3 on the road.
"Tonight's win was a great start to our road schedule as we play our next nine games away from the Grizzly Baseball Complex," stated GGC head coach Brad Stromdahl. "Collectively, the guys did a great job at the plate. Nikolay [Uherek] gave us five quality innings of work that enabled our bullpen to work a progressive relief effort."
Georgia Gwinnett (35-1) pounced out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning of play. Back-to-back doubles by first baseman Zac Rinehart and third baseman William Paschal drove in the first three Grizzly runs of the game. GGC pushed two more runs across the plate in the first as shortstop Trevor Bradley and left fielder Trumon Jefferson connected for back-to-back RBI-singles to put the Grizzlies ahead 5-0.
The Grizzlies scored five more runs over the next three innings for the 10-0 advantage. Rinehart connected with a solo home run in the second inning while back-to-back RBI-singles by second baseman Jereid Woods and center fielder Josh Merrigan pushed the lead to 8-0 after three innings. In the fourth, the Grizzlies scored their ninth run on an error by the Reinhardt third baseman and plated the 10th run on an RBI-single by Woods.
Reinhardt (22-13) scored its first of three runs of the game in the bottom of the fifth. A wild pitch by GGC's starter Uherek allowed the Eagles to break up the shutout. While the Grizzlies pushed an 11th run across the plate in the sixth on a Reinhardt wild pitch, the Eagles responded with their final two runs of the contest in the bottom of the seventh, capitalizing on a GGC fielding error.
The Green and Gray scored two final insurance runs in the game as Jabari Gayle crushed a solo home run over the left field fence in the eighth, to make it 12-3, and catcher Alex Lugo walked with the bases loaded, scoring the final Grizzly run of the day for the 13-3 win.
Uherek picked up his seventh win of the season as the right-handed hurler went five innings of work, allowing one run on four hits while striking out five Eagles. Reinhardt's Max Smith was credited with the loss, giving up five runs on six hits in one inning of work.
The Grizzlies are back in action on Friday when they travel west to face A.I.I. member Texas A&M-Texarkana in a three-game set. GGC will face off with the Eagles starting Friday at 6:00 p.m. and then will wrap up the series with nine-inning contests on Saturday (6:00 p.m.) and Sunday (2:00 p.m.).
Game Day Central
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