The 14th-ranked Georgia Gwinnett baseball team moved one step closer towards capturing a third Association of Independent Institutions tournament title in four seasons on Saturday as the top-seeded and defending A.I.I. champs opened their tournament run with a 15-5 rout of fourth-seeded College of the Ozarks (Mo.).
"Tonight's win starts our run into postseason play that will hopefully continue into late May and early June," said GGC head coach Brad Stromdahl. "We connected really well at the plate and Nikolay [Uherek] was dominant on the mound for us. We did make some great plays tonight, but we need to tighten up defensively and take better care of the ball."
GGC (36-19) tallied the game's first run in the bottom of the first inning with an RBI-single by designated hitter Marcus McCorkle. Three innings later, the Grizzlies posted five more runs to take a 6-0 advantage over the Bobcats.
Left fielder Kade Carrigan got the rally rolling with a sacrifice fly to deep left to give GGC the 2-0 lead. After center fielder Chris Jones reached on a single to left, shortstop Trevor Bradley made it 3-0 with an RBI-single to center. A batter later, third baseman Angel Soto drove in the fourth Grizzly run of the contest with a sacrifice fly to center. Right fielder Rodney Tennie then hit a slap shot back at the Ozarks' pitcher that allowed Bradley to score, making it 5-0 in GGC's favor. Later in the inning, Tennie would come around to score on an RBI-single by second baseman Deion Sellers. Of note, Sellers went 4-for-5 in the contest and accounted for three of GGC's 15 runs.
Facing a 6-0 deficit, College of the Ozarks battled back with two runs of its own in the top of the seventh, using an RBI-single by J.D. Chadwell and a Grizzly throwing error to cut the GGC advantage to 6-2.
However, the Grizzlies responded with a five-run frame in the bottom of the inning to post an 11-2 lead. A key hit in the inning came off Bradley's bat as the shortstop atoned for two errors earlier in the contest.
The Bobcats (30-20) posted two more runs in the top of the eighth with three straight hits, including doubles by Tad Mitchell and Jack Karlson and a single by Chad Reusch, to edge within seven runs, 11-4, of the Grizzlies' lead.
Georgia Gwinnett tacked on four final insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth to enter the ninth with a 15-4 lead over the Ozarks.
While the Bobcats rallied for one final run off an RBI-single by Kole Kelly, the Ozarks could not overcome GGC's early lead, falling 15-5.
Uherek (5-6) picked up the win for Georgia Gwinnett as the right-hander allowed just five runs, three earned, on nine hits while striking out five in the complete-game effort. Ozarks' Alex Stephens (9-5) received the loss, surrendering 11 runs, seven earned, on 15 hits in 6.2 innings of work.
Georgia Gwinnett will now face second-seeded Talladega (Ala.) in the winner's bracket championship on Sunday, May 7 at 3:00 p.m. Talladega advances to play the Grizzlies after defeating third-seeded Edward Waters (Fla.) 7-5 on Saturday.
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