Baseball rallies to take series from Tampa, 2-1

The Georgia College baseball team returned from their 2010 championship efforts in a best of three series at No. 5 rivals University of Tampa. Winning the series 2-1, Georgia College battled the Spartans to a close deciding game three. The overdue series win did not come with a positive start for the Bobcats, despite starting the season at No. 4 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s 2011 Division II Preseason Poll. The Bobcats opened their season last Friday with a familiar start against the Spartans. Georgia College was blown out 13-4 in their first game of the double-header. Junior outfielder Patrick Daughtery led off the day with a triple and was plated by junior outfielder Josh Young’s groundout.

Senior righty Ryan Parson took the mound in the first with a 1-0 advantage, but in his four innings pitched, he gave up six runs which led to a Tampa hitting clinic, putting off nine unanswered runs led by Tampa’s Damon Elder was 4 for 4 with three RBIs and two scored runs. The dry spell did not end for the Bobcats until the seventh inning when Ikaika Anderson scored on a pinch hit single. Tacking on just two more runs in the ninth was too late of an effort to break the deficit. Evan Stobbs got the win for the Spartans allowing five hits and one run.

The Bobcats, “got beat up pretty good in game one,” Head Coach Tom Carty said. “Saving pitching was the only good thing to probably come out of it.”

Preseason All-American, senior outfielder Shawn Ward roped a double in the first inning of game two to score one of his two runs for the Bobcats, hoping to set the mentality to overcome the losing streak to Tampa. Another senior leader, left hander, Jason Nicholas gave a solid effort allowing five runs in his over six-inning performance. The Spartans jumped on the Bobcats’ early 1-0 lead when Tampa third baseman, Damon Elder doubled and left fielder Connor Obrochta followed with a single. Two batters later, center fielder Tyler Ding cleared the bases with a 2 RBI left field single putting Tampa back on top 2-1.

Junior outfielder Josh Young came up big in the third for the Bobcats, providing a double down the line, where he later scored on a Tampa throwing error. Tampa had a big fourth inning adding two more runs. The Bobcats had an infield error followed by a hit-by-pitch progressing the inning.

The bats came alive for Georgia College in the fifth when junior Patrick Daughtery doubled to score junior Luke Mckay, who had been a pitch. Daughtery stole third, allowing him to score with ease on a Tampa outfield throwing error. Junior Tanner Funk’s RBI double to left center kept the inning going for junior Cody Maas, who’s two run single gave the lead back to the Bobcats.

Senior pre-season All American catcher Richard Pirkle blasted a home run to left center in the seventh for Georgia College’s, giving confidence to freshman Matt Robinson, who got his first save on the road.

“We knew win or lose, this doesn’t mean the season for us,” Pirkle said. “Coach Carty is always on us since we were so close last year, so we’re working hard.”

Pirkle, who missed all of summer ball with a broken finger, welcomed Tampa’s bullpen Saturday by dropping another bomb to left field, taking the lead in the second inning.

Both he and Tanner Funk doubled in the fourth providing two more runs. Freshman Matt Robinson came in in the eighth with the bases loaded and no outs, to escape with only one point.

“I was nervous, but they had some base running blunders that helped me out of it,” Robinson said.

With the scored tied 4-4 in the ninth, the Bobcats put up three in their last at bat. Anderson scored on a wild pitch after being walked and Young singled to center plating Daughtery.

Senior Shawn Ward did his job with a sacrifice fly to give freshman closer Matt Robinson the 8-4 lead for the close. Hitting his first batter followed with an infield error, the freshman buckled down to get out unscratched, getting his second save in two games.

“This is definitely our strongest team,” Pirkle said. “Win or lose this series, we knew it doesn’t mean the whole season and what we want to accomplish.”

The Bobcats are in action Feb. 11 at West Georgia, and make their home debut Feb. 13 for games three and four of the series against West Georgia.

Posted by Taylor Lamb on Feb 10 2011. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.