MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. | Georgia College & State University and Georgia Southwestern State University split a Peach Belt Conference baseball doubleheader Saturday (March 16) afternoon at John Kurtz Field.

The Bobcats won the opener 5-4, before the Hurricanes rallied late for a 7-1 decision in the nightcap.

The Bobcats improved to 14-11 overall and to 5-3 in the league, while the Hurricanes fell to 19-6 and 5-3. The teams will play the rubber game of the series at 11 a.m. Sunday (March 17). The game was moved up two hours to beat the expected rain in the area.

Georgia Southwestern took a 1-0 in the top of the first of the opener before GCSU tied the game at 1 on a Gabriel Wuerth RBI single to center field in the third.

The Hurricanes took a 3-2 lead on a two-run single by Jake Blinstrub in the seventh, before the Bobcats reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the eighth. Rand Bestermann started the rally with a leadoff single before Brandon Bellflower crushed a two-out, two-run 440-foot homer to right field of Hurricane starter Nick McCollum (4-1) to give the Bobcats a 4-3 lead. It was his fourth homer of the season. Matthew Mebane followed with a solo homer to right-center field to push the lead to 5-3.

Georgia Southwestern got a run back in the top of the ninth and had a chance for more, but Bobcat reliever Lex Kenny, who earned his second save of 2024, wiggled out of further trouble.

Reliever John Raines (4-1) earned the win for GCSU. Wuerth and Bestermann had two hits apiece for the Bobcats.

The Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead in the fourth in game two before the Bobcats tied the game at 1 in the bottom of the sixth on Mebane's team-leading 12th homer - a solo shot down the left-field line.

GSW took the lead for good with three runs in both the eighth and ninth innings. Paul Hegeman had the big hit - a two-run homer to right field - in the eighth inning off GCSU reliever Will Sims (0-1) to give the Hurricanes a 3-1 lead.

Ray Euson (4-0) earned the win with nine strikeouts in eight innings.

Braeden Smith had two of the five Bobcat hits.


About GCSU Athletics 
Owning the top Academic Success Rate among all public colleges and universities in Division II for three consecutive academic years, the Georgia College Department of Athletics sponsors 11 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. GCSU Athletics has won four consecutive Presidents' Awards for Academic Excellence, and are two-time winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup and four-time winners of the PBC Institution of the Year Sportsmanship Award. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' continued appearances in postseason competition as well as high-level academic success and community-service involvement. Bobcat Athletics embodies the mantra of "Graduating Champions for Life." Sign up at @GCSUBobcats on all social media outlets for up-to-the-minute reports or subscribe to the GSCU Athletics e-newsletter to receive the latest news, schedule updates and to interact with GCSU Athletics.
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