No. 24 Baseball snaps four-game losing streak

Struggling Bobcats topple Newberry, 10-1 after being swept by Peach Belt rival UNC Pembroke

Recent struggles have dropped the Georgia College baseball team down to No. 24 in the national rankings, but the Bobcats finally snapped a four-game skid with a 10-1 blowout victory over Newberry College on April 12.

Newberry had beaten the Bobcats 14-13 on April 6.

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Senior right fielder Shawn Ward had two home runs and three RBI in the Bobcats’ 10-1 win over Newberry on April 12. The win snapped a four game losing skid for Georgia College.

Senior rightfielder Shawn Ward had three hits, including a pair of home runs with three RBI. Junior centerfielder Patrick Daugherty had three hits as well with three runs scored and an RBI.

Redshirt senior designated hitter Richard Pirkle had a pair of hits with an RBI, and freshman second baseman Matt Robinson drove in two runs.

Redshirt senior lefthander Jason Nicholas got the win on the mound, pitching five no-hit innings with three walks and six strikeouts.

In previous action, the Bobcats struggled in their conference series at UNC Pembroke, as the Braves came away with a three-game sweep.

In the first of two games on April 9, the Braves jumped out to an early lead with three first inning runs after Georgia College scored one in the top half.

That was enough to top the Bobcats 4-2. Sophomore lefty Mike Guinane suffered a tough loss, despite throwing a complete game and allowing only two earned runs while fanning six.

Daugherty had two of Georgia College’s four hits in the loss. Ward’s sacrifice fly in the first scored Daugherty to give the Bobcats their only lead of the day.

They got their second run in the eighth when junior leftfielder Josh Young singled in junior first baseman Benton Yaun, but that was as close as they got.

The Bobcats dropped another close decision in the second game, 4-3.

Senior righthander Eric Pettepher took the loss, throwing six innings while allowing four runs and striking out six.

Georgia College took an early lead in the second, when Pirkle led off with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by junior third baseman Travis Echols, moved to third on a passed ball and then scored on an RBI groundout by Yaun.

The Braves, however, put up a three spot in the third to take a 3-1 lead, and they would extend their cushion to 4-1 in the fifth.

Georgia College cut the lead down in the top of the eighth. Ward led off with a double, and Pirkle homered to left field to make it a 4-3 game.

On April 10, the Braves completed the sweep, drilling the Bobcats 10-0.

The Bobcats managed only four hits, two of them coming from Pirkle.

The Bobcats had not been swept in a PBC series since 2008 against North Georgia.

Georgia College returns to action this weekend for a three-game conference series at home against Montevallo.

On April 16, the teams will play a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m., and they will follow that up with a game on April 17 at 1 p.m.

Posted by Scotty Thompson on Apr 14 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.