MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – Two home runs and
four RBI from junior Shawn Ward
(Martinez, Ga.) led the No. 10 Bobcat baseball team
(30-12, 17-4 PBC) at Georgia College & State University to an
8-4 victory over No. 14 Valdosta State University (35-13, 9-3 GSC).
Head coach Tom Carty also picked up his 100th
career win in just his third season.
Georgia College struck first when shortstop Chandler
Snell (Loganville, Ga.) hit an infield single, scoring
catcher Benton Yaun (Marietta, Ga.).
The Blazers answered right back getting two runs in the top of
the third. Ryan Danbury came across the plate on a Clayton Cain
single and then Josh Vining knocked in Jon Koenigsfeld.
Down 2-1, the Bobcats' bats came alive and tallied four
runs as Ward hit a three-run bomb that hit the scoreboard in
leftfield. Designated hitter
Richard
Pirkle (Norcross, Ga.) later hit a sacrifice fly to
bring in first baseman
Matt Pitts
(Brunswick, Ga.), who finished 2-for-5 with two runs
scored. Centerfielder
Sean
Harrell (Martinez, Ga.) also had a multi-hit game,
going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Harrell leads the team with 78
hits on the 2010 season.
Ward struck gold again in the fifth, hitting a solo blast to
leftfield and finished the game 3-for-3 adding three runs. Ward and
Pirkle are tied with a team-best 12 home runs while the junior
rightfielder is second on the team with 61 RBI, two behind
team-leader Pitts.
In the seventh, Yaun hit a single up the middle to record his
14th and 15th RBI of the season as Ward and Pitts crossed the
plate.
Powerful lefty Jason
Nicholas (Wright City, Mo.) got the win to go 4-2 on
the season. The junior went six innings allowing three runs on five
hits while walking five and recording nine strikeouts.
Brandon Decker, Jordan Yost and Cain all had multi-hit games
for Valdosta State, recording two apiece. Cain had a team-high two
RBI.
With today's victory at John Kurtz Field, head coach Carty
recorded his 100th win while at the helm at Georgia College. Carty
is now 100-55 (.645) over two seasons. His win percentage ranks
second in Georgia College history, while the win total places him
fourth.
Georgia College travels to North Greenville University for a
three-game series, starting with a single game Thursday, April 22
at 3 p.m. in Taylors, S.C. The doubleheader will be played Friday,
April 23 with the first game at 1:30 p.m.
The GCSU Department of Athletics, winners of the 2008-09 PBC
Commissioner's Cup, sponsors 10 varsity athletic programs at the
NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, GCSU prides
itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by
the Bobcats' multiple appearances in post-season competition as
well as documented academic success and community-service
involvement. Sign up at
Twitter.com username GCSUSID
for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit www.GCSUBobcats.com to
nominate your favorite former Bobcats and Colonials to the GCSU
Athletics Hall of Fame.
