Bobcats are on a roll

The faces of the Georgia College & State University baseball team may have changed since last year but so far the results have been the same.
After last year’s 15-0 start, the Bobcats look to build a record even better, starting the season 4-0 after a three-game sweep of Barton College and a one game win over Emmanuel College.

February 1

GC&SU opened up their season with a double-header. The weather at John Kurtz field was not traditional baseball weather as the temperature peeked in the low 60s.

The Bobcats came into the series ranked 11th in the Collegiate Baseball Magazine NCAA Division II Preseason Poll.

GC&SU jumped out to a quick lead by driving in seven runs off eight hits to answer the Bulldogs early run off Bobcat starter Jay Henderson.

The Bobcats got it started with back-to-back-to-back by Jason Samples, Ron Womack, and Jose Leger. Leger drove in Samples after a double steal. Jamie Langham was hit by a pitch to load the bases with only one out. Matt Nixon then hit a two RBI double. He was quickly followed by Brett Lathem who also drove in a pair. The hits in the first just kept coming as Bobcat first baseman Chris Aeschlimann drove in a run with another double. After a Tyler Folsom infield single, Samples came up and got his second hit of the inning driving in Folsom.

Barton’s starter, Scott McIver, had an unusual and rare submarine delivery that the Bobcats were feasting off of early in the game, but were held silent for the next few innings.

“I was not looking forward to facing him,” said Samples. “He just left some pitches over the plate and I was able to get a good piece of them.”

“It’s good to see someone like him early in the season,” said Steve Mrowka, head baseball coach. “We faced him last year and we hit him pretty hard, but we couldn’t score off of him. We went into the sixth inning and I think the score was only 3-1.”

The Bulldogs battled back throughout the game cutting into the Bobcats lead. At one point the Bulldogs only trailed by one run.

The bats of the Bobcats finally woke back up in the sixth inning scoring two runs after an error by the Bulldogs third baseman, Kevin Martin, allowed Lathem safely on first. Folsom and Samples were the recipients of back-to-back walks which set-up a two RBI single for Womack.

“A lot of players stepped up this weekend,” said Mrowka. “Matt Nixon was a real producer at the plate and Ron Womack really did a good job starting for us after not getting very many starts last year.”

Bulldogs head coach, Todd Wilkinson, stayed with McIver until two singles by Eddie Campbell and Langham finally forced the Bulldogs to make a pitching change. Campbell eventually scored on a throwing error.

GC&SU held on for the 10-6 victory in game one.

In the second game, the Bobcats scored six runs in the second inning and survived a late sixth inning scare to pull out the 9-7 win.

Barton slowly loaded the bases in the sixth with a pair of walks and a single to right before Bulldogs first baseman, Michael Kopp, hit a grand slam over the centerfield fence to pull within two runs.

The Bobcats were able to hold on as Joel Sayre retired the only three batters he faced in the seventh. Nixon went 3-3 with a run scored and three RBIs for GC&SU, while Samples contributed two runs and three RBIs.

Sophomore Matt Goyen tossed four complete innings for the win, while Sayre picked up his first save of the year.

“[Goyen] pitched a great game for us today and Joel came in and shut the door,” said Campbell. “We had a lot of guys produce in these games and we hope the momentum continues into our next games.”

Barton’s starting pitcher, Matt Boykin, took the loss after allowing six earned runs on five hits in the first two innings of the game. Kopp went 2-3 with two runs and four RBIs in the Bulldogs’ losing effort.

February 2

In the third and final game of the weekend the Bobcats once again jumped out to an early lead. Sophomore pitcher Travis Spell cast a spell on the Barton College players taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning and only allowing one unearned run off one hit in six innings of work.

While Spell was spectacular on the mound, the Bobcats did a lot of talking with the bats throughout the game. They scored 12 runs off of 14 hits in the game. Samples once again led the team offensively going three for five, driving in one and scoring three runs.

“Offensively, Samples got it started for us,” said Mrowka. “He was hitting out of the lead-off spot and just had a fantastic weekend.”

The Bobcats held on to the lead for the entire game eventually winning by the final score of 12-5.

After the dust from the West Complex settled, the Bobcats outscored the Bulldogs 31-18 in the weekend series.

February 4

Folsom went 3-5 with 4 RBI to lead the now10th ranked GC&SU to a 15-7 victory over Emmanuel College at Kurtz Field.

Folsom was a single away from hitting for the cycle after clubbing a home run, triple and double to pace GC&SU’s 18-hit attack.

Emmanuel College dented the scoreboard first in the second inning as

Keith Brown executed a suicide squeeze scoring Eddie Senez from third base to put the Lions up 1-0. The Bobcats answered with five runs in the bottom of the inning; highlighted by Folsom’s three run home runs over the right field wall.

The Lions would chip away with a run in the fifth and five in the sixth to take a 7-5 lead. The Bobcats would answer with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a lead they would never relinquish.

Folsom’s RBI triple plated one run, and John McDonald later doubled to right field to plate Folsom and tie the game at seven. Campbell’s two-run single to left field put the Bobcats ahead for good.

GC&SU added three more runs in the seventh and eighth innings to pull away. Joel Sayre picked up the win in relief after shutting out the Lions on one hit in 1.1 innings of work.

In addition to Folsom, Samples had a great day at the plate for the Bobcats after going 5-6 with two RBIs and three runs scored, while Leger went 2-3 with three RBIs. Campbell finished 2-4 with three RBIs. Michael Cross went 2-4 with 2 RBIs, and Matt Stone went 3-5 with one RBI to pace the Lions.

GC&SU travels to Florida over the weekend for a three game series with the number five ranked University of Tampa.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 7 2003. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry