Chargers battle through bracket, but come up just short in GCAA finals
After losing their first game in the GCAA Championship Tournament last Sunday, coach Dash O’Neill and the Georgia Highlands College baseball team knew they would need four straight wins in the double-elimination event to capture the conference title. The Chargers responded with three wins in a row, but came up just short in the fourth Thursday night. Georgia Highlands entered the tournament Sunday as the No. 1-seed, but lost 14-7 to East Georgia State. The Chargers then won twice Tuesday, defeating Gordon State 13-2 and East Georgia 16-7 to reach the championship round against Andrew College Thursday.
GHC won the first game Thursday 10-6 — handing the Tigers their first loss of the tournament — but Andrew took the final game 9-5.
The Chargers burst open a back-and-forth contest in the opening game. The lead was exchanged five times in the early going and was tied three times at 2-2, 3-3, and 4-4 in the first five innings. A big sixth inning, however, lifted Georgia Highlands to a 10-5 lead and the teams exchanged single runs in the eighth inning for a 10-6 final score.
It was a team offensive effort for the Chargers. They banged out thirteen hits in the victory with every batter contributing at least one hit or one RBI. Palmer Sapp had three hits. Ben Olson finished with a pair of hits including a grand slam home run and five RBIs. Joe Sutton had two hits including a double and one RBI. Brandon Prince also had two hits and one RBI. Omar Daniels contributed a double and one RBI with a sac fly. Connor Todaro and David Smith tossed in one hit apiece while Trenton Parker drove in one run.
Jacob Ryan (5 IP, 5R, 4ER, 8H, 1BB, 3K) started on the mound and picked up the pitching win. Ryan Suppa (4 IP, 1ER, 2H, 2BB, 4K) had four strikeouts in a four inning relief stint.
In what became the conference title game, Georgia Highlands trailed 4-1 in the second inning and 5-3 through four innings. The Chargers tied the game 5-5 in the fifth inning, but Andrew scored twice in the sixth inning and added two more runs in the eighth for their four run win.
Chase Townsend (3 IP, 3R, 2ER, 2H, 3BB, 1K) suffered the pitching loss for GHC in relief of starter Conner Perry (2 IP, 4R, 3ER, 2H, 3BB, 2K). Chandler Wood (1 IP, 1BB, 1K) and Johnny Dow (3 IP, 2ER, 4H, 1BB, 3K) also worked in relief.
Trenton Parker led the Chargers’ offense in the loss with three hits including a double and two RBIs. Joe Sutton had two hits including a double and a sacrifice fly with three RBIs. Brandon Prince, Connor Todaro, and Ben Olson contributed two hits each. Omar Daniels added one hit. Andrew College improved to 35-22-1 on the season with their conference tournament title. The Tigers will host the Tennessee champion, Walters State CC, May 19-21 for the NJCAA Appalachian District title. The winner of that series advances to the National JUCO Championship Tournament May 29-June 5 in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Georgia Highlands, winners of the GCAA regular season’s top seed, finishes its season with a 42-15 record.
