After dropping its last two games in a row, the No. 1 Georgia Gwinnett baseball team rebounded on Friday night to defeat NCAA Division III No. 5 Emory (Ga.) in a 14-3 rout.
"Tonight was a great win for us over a powerhouse team in Division III," stated GGC head coach Brad Stromdahl. "It was great to see us pitch well from top to bottom and bounce back after being down 2-0. Overall, I was happy with the way we played."
At the plate, Georgia Gwinnett (43-4) was led by the duo of Josh Merrigan and Michael Hodorowski. Merrigan went 3-for-3 on the night, scoring two runs while swiping two bases. Hodorowski went 2-for-3 at plate, scoring twice.
Emory (27-9) jumped out to the early lead in the first inning of play with an RBI-double by center fielder David Coble and RBI-single by Philip Maldari.
After going scoreless the first three innings of play, the Grizzlies surged out to the 5-2 lead in the third and never looked back. A two-run double by first baseman Zac Rinehart tied the game at 2-2. Moments later, a wild pitch scored Rinehart for the go-ahead run and 3-2 Grizzly advantage. GGC scored its fourth run of the inning on a wild throw. The fifth run of the inning came off an RBI-bloop single to shallow left field by catcher Brady Shoppe.
The Grizzlies duplicated their efforts from the fourth inning to score five more runs in the fifth for the 10-2 lead. Shortstop William Paschal started the five-run fifth with a sacrifice fly to deep right, scoring Merrigan. Previously, Merrigan reached on a leadoff single, stole second base, and moved to third on a single to deep short by Brady Hamilton. Right fielder Kyler Timmerman joined the action, driving in Hodorowski with an RBI-single to left to give the Grizzlies the 8-2 lead. A balk allowed third baseman Angel Soto to score the ninth GGC run of the game before an RBI-single by designated hitter Trumon Jefferson gave the Grizzlies the 10-2 advantage.
Georgia Gwinnett added two more runs in the sixth before Emory responded with a run in the seventh on an RBI-single by David Draper, cutting the GGC lead to 12-3.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Grizzlies regained their 10-run lead with an RBI-single by Soto before ending their scoring with a pinch hit RBI-single to left by Jereid Woods to make it 14-3 in the eighth.
GGC starter Trevor Bradley (2-0) received the win, surrendering two runs, on three hits. Emory's Paul Merolla (3-1) received his first loss of the season, allowing five runs, three earned, on five hits in four innings of work.
The Grizzlies return to the diamond on Tuesday as they host Reinhardt (Ga.) in a nine-inning contest. First pitch between the Eagles and Grizzlies is set for 6:00 p.m. at the Grizzly Baseball Complex.
Game Day Central
Live video coverage, starting 15 minutes prior to First Pitch, provided by the Grizzly Digital Network:
http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ggc
Live stats link:
http://bit.ly/1WtF1mW
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