The No. 8 Georgia Gwinnett baseball team set a new program record Sunday night in Lawrenceville by winning its 21st-consecutive game, rolling past visiting Viterbo (Wis.), 19-4, in seven innings.
The run-rule win, which pushed the Grizzlies to 21-0 on the season, was also the 100th victory in the short history of the Grizzly Baseball Complex, as GGC improved to 100-26 (.794) at home since March of 2013.The Grizzlies also set a new single-game mark in the contest with 14 stolen bases as Josh Merrigan and Jereid Woods each had three apiece. Merrigan also swung the hottest bat, going 4-for-4 as the GGC offense racked up 15 hits in the win.
The 21-game streak eclipses a 20-game run that the 2014 GGC squad put together from mid-February to mid-March of that season.
"It's really not something that we talk about much, but one day when these guys' careers are over they will look back and see that this has been something pretty neat to be a part of," said GGC head coach Brad Stromdahl. "It's hard to appreciate it in the moment as we really do take it one game at a time and we hope to keep doing some good things over the first part of this season."
Five Grizzlies finished with multiple hits in the contest as GGC broke open what was a tight game with eight runs in the fifth inning and six more in the sixth. Eleven walks issued by Viterbo (2-5) proved to be costly for the visitors.
Grizzly pitchers Will Solomon (4-0), Tyler Souris and Jeremy Hutchison combined to hold the V-Hawks in check.
After the Grizzlies built a 5-1 lead through the first three innings, Viterbo scored three times in the fourth to make it 5-4.
Georgia Gwinnett then sent 14 batters to the plate in the fifth inning, scoring eight times to extend the advantage to 13-4.
A three-run double by Alex Lugo helped GGC push across six more runs in the sixth inning to extend the lead even more.
Souris tossed a scoreless fifth and sixth while Hutchison did the same in the seventh to finish off the win.
The Grizzlies eclipsed the 100-stolen-base mark for the season Sunday and now lead the country with 108 for the year.
"Tonight, the top of the lineup was really clicking," added Stromdahl. "We hit the ball well, and as a team we were very aggressive and firing on all cylinders."
The Grizzlies and V-Hawks will wrap up their three-game series on Monday with a single game at 1 p.m.
Tickets for each game are $5 for adults, $3 for youth, seniors, and military, and free for children under five. All members of the GGC community receive free admission with their Claw Card. For more information on ticketing, click here. Free game day parking is available in the deck at the entrance to the GGC campus.
Game Day Central
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