GHC baseball splits doubleheader at Andrew College

Georgia Highlands baseball split a conference doubleheader at Andrew College Saturday winning the opener 17-1 but losing the second game, 10-9.

The two teams also split a doubleheader last Tuesday at LakePoint and Georgia Highlands swept a doubleheader March 13, so Saturday’s split gives the Chargers a 4-2 season series win.

Saturday’s first game was dominated by the Chargers’ bats. GHC out hit the host Tigers 19 to five in the seven inning contest and hit four home runs.

Palmer Sapp hit a first inning grand slam. Gavin Harmon belted a three-run homer along with a two-run homer by David Smith and a solo home run by Trace Twardoski in the Chargers’ 10-run fifth inning.

Johnny Dow tossed a complete-game five hitter for the GHC pitching win. He struck out five.

In Game 2, the two teams exchanged leads three time over the first eight and one-half innings before Andrew College pushed across the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

A walk and an error on a bunt left the Chargers on the wrong end of the walk off play, 10-9.

Georgia Highlands held a 5-0 lead through four frames and led 7-1 going to the bottom of the seventh. The host Tigers scored six in the seventh and two more in the eighth inning to take a 9-7 lead before Georgia Highlands tied the game in the top of the ninth.

GHC relief pitcher Chandler Wood (0.1 IP, 1R, 0ER, 1BB, 1K) suffered the pitching loss. He entered in the eighth inning and was the pitcher of record in the ninth inning when the defensive miscue occurred. Jacob Ryan (6.1 IP, 6ER, 10H, 1BB, 4K) started for the Chargers and Matthew Silka (1.1 IP, 3R, 1ER, 5H, 2K) pitched middle relief.

Connor Todaro led the Georgia Highlands offense with three hits including a double and two RBIs. Joe Sutton had two hits. David Smith and Trace Twardoski both had one hit and two RBIs each.

The doubleheader split leaves Andrew College with a 23-14-1 overall record. The Tigers are now 8-6 in conference play.

Georgia Highlands (30-6, 9-3) hosts East Georgia State in a doubleheader Tuesday and travels to East Georgia next Saturday for a doubleheader to wrap up the four-game series.