MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – A complete-game pitching effort and a late rally helped No. 23 Georgia College baseball (1-1) salvage a split in the season-opening doubleheader with King College (1-1) Friday at John Kurtz Field. The Bobcats won 5-4 in game two after a 9-5 opening loss.

Game one featured a great pitching effort from the Tornado, with a late rally by the Bobcats falling short.

A five-run sixth inning helped expand a 2-1 King lead to 7-1. The Bobcats tallied four runs in the final three frames, but fell short by the 9-5 final. Second baseman Daniel Bick (Alpharetta, Ga.) was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI and a run, aided by third baseman Travis Echols' (Suwanee, Ga.) 2-for-4 effort, driving in one. Junior Cody Maas (Alpharetta, Ga.) swatted the season's first home run, a solo shot in the ninth.

King's ace Cory Rhodes (1-0) went six innings with one unearned run, fanning seven. Derek McGowan (Raytown, Mo.) took the loss for GC falling to 0-1 in five innings of work, allowing three earned runs and striking out four.

Junior Darin Wiltgen (Reno, Nev.) got the win in game two (1-0), going all seven innings with just two earned runs on seven hits, walking one and fanning two.

The Bobcats turned a 2-1 deficit into a 5-2 lead with a four-run bottom of the sixth, powered by three hits, a wild pitch and a pair of walks. Tanner Funk (Kearney, Mo.) scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch after ripping a single through the left side earlier in the inning.

The 'Cats won the game without the benefit of a multi-hit performer, but first baseman Karsten Strieby (Brier, Wash.) did tag the first home run of his GC career, finishing with two RBI.

King starter Wesley Houser (0-1) took the loss in 4 1/3 innings of work.

The Bobcats are back in action for the final game of the series with King at John Kurtz Field tomorrow, Feb. 4 at noon.

The Georgia College Department of Athletics, two-time winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup, sponsors 10 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at www.twitter.com/BobcatSports and www.facebook.com/gcbobcats for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit www.GCBobcats.com for more information, and to nominate your favorite former Bobcats and Colonials to the GC Athletics Hall of Fame.