MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. | Southern Wesleyan University jumped out to a quick start over the first four inning and held on for a 9-6 non-conference baseball win over No. 13 Georgia College & State University in the home opener Tuesday (Feb. 4) night at John Kurtz Field.
The Bobcats are still searching for their first win and fell to 0-4, while the Warriors collect their first win, moving to 1-4. GCSU continues its homestand with its three-game series against Eckerd College. The series opener against the Tritons will be at 6 p.m. Friday (Feb. 7).
Tristan Tillman would open the night's ball game against GCSU starter Christian Donaldson (0-2) by being hit by a pitch, the first of five hit batters by Bobcats pitchers. Tillman would come around to score the contest's first run without a single hit in the inning, stealing third along the way.
Jack Dennison would add two more in the second via a base hit to the right side, and the game would be blown open by the Southern Wesleyan with four runs in the fourth inning, with Tillman batting in two runs on a double and Marty Grisso doing the same a few batters later.
The bottom of the fourth would be when the Bobcats would place a crooked number on the scoreboard, with Braeden Smith leading off the inning with a blast to right field, collecting his first home run of the season. This would be quickly followed by back-to-back base hits from Matthew Mebane and Evan Cowan, with Gabe Wuerth knocking in one of them and Keagan Baxter following up with another RBI single.
With the Bobcats down by six in the bottom of the seventh, Smith repeated the past, hitting a moonshot to center field for a three-run home run to close to within 9-6. The Bobcats came close to completing a comeback in the bottom of the ninth, loading the bases; however, Warrior reliever Gage Shaver earned his first save of the season as he coaxed a pop fly to preserve the Southern Wesleyan win.
Garrett Swink (1-0) would collect the win for Southern Wesleyan, picking up a pair of strikeouts.
Three Bobcats would have multiple hits: Ben Hamacher, Smith, and Mebane, with Smith leading with 4 RBI on the night.
About GCSU Athletics
Owning the top Academic Success Rate among all public colleges and universities in Division II for four consecutive academic years, the Georgia College Department of Athletics sponsors 11 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. GCSU Athletics has won five 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.
