The No.1 ranked Georgia Gwinnett baseball team picked up its 10th win in a row on Friday night against eighth-seeded Fisher (Mass.) in its opening round matchup of the 2016 A.I.I. Baseball Tournament, defeating the Falcons 13-5.
"It's great to start the tournament off with a win," stated GGC head coach Brad Stromdahl. "Davis [Adkins] turned in a quality performance on the mound, and our offense backed him up with key run support."
Adkins (13-0) remained perfect on the season and carried the Grizzlies through seven and two-thirds innings of work. The right-handed Cordele, Ga., native edged closer to GGC's single season strikeouts record (98) held by Tyler Carpenter, striking out 10 batters on the evening. Adkins, who is just four strikeouts away from tying, five from breaking the record, and six from the century mark in strikeouts, picked up the win, surrendering four runs, three earned, on six hits.
Fisher (19-27) held its only lead of the ballgame in the opening inning of play as an RBI-single to right-center field by designated hitter Cody Mercier put the Falcons on the board with the 1-0 lead over the NAIA's No. 1 ranked team.
In the bottom of the first, the Grizzlies tied the game at 1-1 with a sacrifice fly to deep left by first baseman Zac Rinehart. Moments later, designated hitter Marcus McCorkle battled through an eight pitch at bat to rifle an RBI-triple to the right-center field wall. With the 2-1 lead, Georgia Gwinnett added a third run in the frame when Fisher's starting pitcher committed a balk.
In the second inning, Georgia Gwinnett (52-4) picked back up where it left off in the opening inning to score four runs for the 7-1 advantage. Shortstop Trevor Bradley led the inning off, launching his first home run in a GGC uniform over the left-center fence for the 4-1 lead. A sacrifice fly by second baseman Jereid Woods and back-to-back RBI-singles by center fielder Josh Merrigan and Rinehart contributed to the four run inning as the Grizzlies held a 7-1 advantage after just two innings of play.
GGC and Fisher traded runs in the bottom of the third and top of the fourth, respectively, to push the game to an 8-2 Grizzly lead, but Georgia Gwinnett's bats were not finished for the evening. In the fifth, four more Grizzly insurance runs would cross the plate to widen the A.I.I. tournament host's gap to 12-2. Of note, two crucial Falcon errors in the bottom of the fifth resulted in GGC scoring two runs during the inning.
The Grizzlies' final run of the evening came off a sacrifice fly to center by pinch hitter Angel Soto to end GGC's scoring with 13 runs.
The Falcons managed three final runs, two in the eighth and one in the ninth, to narrow Georgia Gwinnett's advantage to 13-5, but could not capitalize on offensive chances, falling in defeat to the Grizzlies. With the loss, Fisher moves to the loser's bracket and faces potential elimination with another loss. The Falcons will face off with fifth-seeded College of the Ozarks (Mo.) on Saturday at noon.
Sophomore Jabari Gayle made his pitching debut for the Grizzlies in the eighth inning and went on to record the final four outs of the contest.
With the 13-5 victory, the Grizzlies collected their 52nd win of the season.
Georgia Gwinnett returns to the diamond on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. when it faces off against fourth-seeded Mount Mercy (Iowa). The Mustangs earned a spot in the night cap of day two of the A.I.I. tournament by defeating fifth-seeded College of the Ozarks 8-4 in game three of the opening day of tournament play. Sunday's game between Mount Mercy and Georgia Gwinnett is the first all-time meeting between both squads.
Once again, the Grizzly Digital Network will provide live video coverage of Sunday's contest. Access to the complete tournament can be purchased for $29.95 and viewed daily at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ggc. Individual game viewings are also available at $7.95 per game.
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/1q6Hdnk
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