Senior
Alex Garland connected on a two-run homer and junior
Pedro Garcia had a strong pitching performance as the top-seeded Georgia Gwinnett College baseball team earned a 5-2 victory against Union College (Ky.) to cap Monday's first day of the NAIA Opening Round's Lawrenceville Bracket at the Grizzly Baseball Complex.
GGC (44-11) advances to play No. 2-seeded Georgetown College (Ky.) on Tuesday, May 14, at 3 p.m. The Tigers defeated No. 3-seeded IU Southeast 6-1 in another first-round contest.
Garland's round tripper came in the fifth inning and gave the tournament hosts a 2-0 lead.
Then, the Grizzlies added three key insurance runs in the seventh inning to build a 5-0 advantage. Bases-loaded walks to
C.J. Ballard and
Nick Barnes scored two of the runs, while a hit by pitch to
Brandon Frazier pushed across another tally.
That's all Garcia needed as he recorded 11 strikeouts and scattered seven hits across 8.1 innings to improve to 6-1 on the season. Freshman
Alec Kliphouse recorded the final two outs as Union brought the potential game-tying run to the plate in the ninth inning.
Both teams tallied seven hits with senior
Brenton Burgess and sophomore
Cam Coursey each collected two hits for the Grizzlies.
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Coach's Corner
"I thought Pedro did an unbelievable job. You've got to win on the mound in these tournaments and Pedro did exactly what he's supposed to do. We had a big hit by Alex to break the game open. I'm glad we got the win against a really good Union team," said Head Coach
Brad Stromdahl.
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Turning Point
Senior
Alex Garland connected on a two-run home run deep over the left field wall to give the Grizzlies a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning. From there, junior
Pedro Garcia tossed three additional scoreless innings as GGC would extend the lead to 5-0 by the seventh inning.
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Key Plays
Bottom of Fifth
Alex Garland hit a two-run homer to give the Grizzlies a 2-0 lead
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Bottom of Seventh
C.J. Ballard drew a bases-loaded walk to bring home
Brenton Burgess
Brandon Frazier was hit by a pitch to extend the lead to 4-0
Nick Barnes followed with a walk to score another run
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Inside The Numbers
- Both teams tallied seven hits in the contest
- Junior pitcher Pedro Garcia had 11 strikeouts in earning his sixth victory of the season
- The Grizzlies drew five walks, including two with the bases loaded in the seventh inning
- Senior C.J. Ballard had three putouts from right field
News & Notes
- GGC improves to 44-11 on the season; Union drops to 28-24 in 2019
- Georgia Gwinnett College was the top seed in the Lawrenceville Bracket of the NAIA Opening Round; Union stood as the No. 5 seed
- The Grizzlies were ranked No. 4 in the final NAIA Top 25 poll of the regular season
- GGC has outscored its opponents by a 47-to-9 margin during 2019 postseason play
Up Next
Top-seeded Georgia Gwinnett College plays No. 2-seeded Georgetown College (Ky.) in a winner's bracket contest on Tuesday, May 14, at 3 p.m. at the Grizzly Baseball Complex. Georgetown defeated No. 3-seeded IU Southeast 6-1 in another first-round contest on Monday.
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