Fresh off its fourth consecutive week in a row of being selected as the No. 1 ranked team in the latest NAIA Coaches' Poll moments prior to tonight's first pitch, the Georgia Gwinnett baseball team completed the season series sweep of Reinhardt (Ga.) on Tuesday evening, defeating the Eagles in a 4-0 shutout victory.
Earlier this season, the Grizzlies defeated Reinhardt 13-3 in Waleska on March 29.
"Adam [Clark] threw exceptionally well and competed all night," stated GGC head coach Brad Stromdahl. "Our guys played great defense behind him with Trevor [Bradley] making three great plays to keep the shutout intact. It was tough for the guys to find a rhythm tonight as we faced nine different pitchers over eight innings, however, the hitters connected when it mattered most and we need them to."
The Grizzlies (44-4) took a 2-0 lead in the opening inning of play. Trey Haygood led off the inning with a single up the middle and stole back-to-back bases to move to third with no outs in the inning. Two batters later, first baseman Angel Soto lifted a sacrifice fly to deep left field to push the first Grizzly run of the day over the plate. With runners on second and third with one out in the inning, right fielder Brady Hamilton hit a chopper to short, scoring second baseman Jereid Woods, to give Georgia Gwinnett the 2-0 advantage over the Eagles (27-21).
Georgia Gwinnett added its third run of the contest to the scoreboard in the bottom of the third. Hamilton supplied his second RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly to deep left-center, scoring Soto.
The fourth and final Grizzly run of the game came in the bottom of the eighth when catcher Brady Shoppe added an insurance run with an RBI-double to left-center.
GGC's starting pitcher Adam Clark kept Reinhardt's offense silent throughout his seven innings of shutout work. The right-handed Cartersville native allowed just three hits while striking out two batters to pick up his fifth win of the season.
Relievers Jeremy Hutchison and Will Solomon combined for two spotless innings to complete the shutout victory over Reinhardt. The Eagles sent nine pitchers to the mound throughout the contest as Luke Cathcart received the loss for the Eagles, allowing two runs on two hits.
The Grizzlies return to the diamond on Friday as they host No. 5 USC-Beaufort (37-6) in a nine-inning contest. First pitch between the Sand Sharks 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/23SutAa
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