Rome, GA - The seventh-seeded UWG baseball team kicked off the 2012 Gulf South Conference tournament in style on Friday afternoon with a 10-3 victory over second-seeded West Alabama at State Mutual Stadium in Rome.

The Wolves will play the winner of the upcoming game between the sixth seed West Florida Argonauts and Alabama-Huntsville, the third seed. The Wolves second game of this year's tourney will take place tomorrow at 1 p.m. 

While the seedings indicate that West Georgia may have pulled off a stunner in the opener, the win was the third for UWG over West Alabama this season, as the Wolves took 2-of-3 from the Tigers in Livingston earlier this year.

UWG starter #Chase Riemer# and West Alabama starter Barry Meeks were locked in a pitcher's duel for the first three innings and Riemer had given up just one hit heading into the bottom of the third. In that frame, however, the Tigers drew first blood in the tournament as UWA first baseman D.J. Turo singled with two outs and shorttop Tyler Shaw on second, giving West Alabama a 1-0 advantage.

That lead was short-lived, as the Wolves sent 12 men to the plate in the top of the fourth inning, scoring six runs to take a commanding 6-1 advantage in the contest. The big blow in that stanza was back-to-back doubles from #Tanner Drennen# and #Keith Borger#, as each brought home two runs. #Brett Wright# and #Andy Marinelli# added an RBI single each in the inning to round out the UWG scoring.

After the Tigers put two more runs on the board and knocked Riemer from the game in the bottom of the fourth, UWG head coach Skip Fite needed some long relief out of the bullpen. He got exactly that from junior #Max Aeschilmann#, who delivered six innings in relief, allowing no runs on four hits while striking out four to pick up the victory.

The UWG offense helped Aeschilmann in the top of the fifth, as the Wolves put four more runs on the board to essentially put the game out of reach. Borger picked up an RBI single for his third RBI of the game, #Garrett May# singled in two runs and Marinelli added another RBI base knock.

Seniors #Adam Whitlock# and Marinelli were each 3-for-5 on the afternoon, with Whitlock scoring two runs and Marinelli with two RBI. Borger was 2-for-5 with a run scored and three RBI and May was 1-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI.

The Wolves pounded out 15 hits in the contest, as each starter reached the grass at least once in the game. The tournament victory was the first for West Georgia at the GSC tournament since 1998, when UWG beat Alabama-Huntsville in two straight games to win the conference title.