The 14th-ranked Georgia Gwinnett baseball team closed out the 2017 regular season on Sunday afternoon with an 8-5 win against USC Beaufort (S.C.) on the road.
With the victory, Georgia Gwinnett takes the season series against the Sand Sharks 2-1 and are 11-4 in the all-time series against USCB.
"It was great to close out the regular season with a win over a tough opponent in USCB," said GGC head coach Brad Stromdahl. "We look forward to hosting the upcoming A.I.I. tournament next weekend and hope to use today's win as positive momentum into a successful tournament run."
Georgia Gwinnett (35-19) opened the nine-inning contest with a 2-0 lead, scoring runs on an RBI-double by first baseman Alex Garland and a sacrifice fly by third baseman Brandon Frazier in the top of the second inning.
USC Beaufort (32-20) tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom frame of the inning with an RBI-single by third baseman Michael Grunder and a bases-loaded walk to second baseman Mclean Hartz and then took its lone lead of the game in the fourth with an RBI-single by Hartz and a sacrifice fly to right-center by center fielder Thomas Estopare.
In the top of the fifth, Georgia Gwinnett rallied to take its second lead of the contest, 5-4, when designated hitter Marcus McCorkle ripped a triple to right-center field with the bases loaded. The hit cleared the bases to give the Grizzlies the 5-4 advantage.
An inning later, the Grizzlies scored three more runs to push their gap over the Sand Sharks to 8-4. Center fielder Chris Jones posted GGC's second RBI-triple of the contest to increase the Grizzly lead to 6-4 while left fielder Kade Carrigan connected for the third Grizzly triple of the game to score Jones and right fielder Rodney Tennie, making it 8-4 in GGC's favor.
The Sand Sharks cut the margin to 8-5 in the bottom of the seventh and looked to cause more offensive damage, but reliever Michael Mayuski worked through an inherited bases-loaded jam to keep the Grizzlies ahead by three, 8-5.
Myles Smith (4-3) picked up the win for the Grizzlies, allowing just one run on three hits in 2.1 innings of work while USCB's Justin Kortessis (7-4) was credited with the loss, surrendering five runs, three earned, on six hits in five innings of work.
Georgia Gwinnett now shifts its focus to postseason play where the Grizzlies will return to Lawrenceville to host the A.I.I. tournament May 6-8 at the Grizzly Baseball Complex.
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