Carrollton, GA - If skipping the seventh inning were an option in baseball, then the West Georgia Wolves would likely be 2-0 at the 2013 Taziki's Gulf South Conference Baseball Tournament. Unfortunately for the Wolves, a rough seventh inning led to a 4-3 loss to West Alabama Friday at AT&T Field in Chattanooga, TN.
Two errors in the seventh inning led to three West Alabama runs, which eventually put the Wolves into the first elimination game of this year's tournament. West Georgia will now take on 4th-seeded North Alabama at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning after UNA bested Christian Brothers on Friday, making CBU the second team to be sent home at this year's tourney.
The Wolves jumped on the board in a strange way in the first inning, as #
Blake McLemore# hit his second home run of the season in the second at-bat of the game. But it wasn't a traditional homer, as McLemore legged out an in-the-park home run to give West Georgia the first lead of the day.
Starting pitcher #
Cody Skinner# sat the Tigers down in order in the bottom of the first, and his offense kept working for him in the top of the second. With two outs, #
Keith Borger# singled, followed by a triple from #
Trey Dickson#, which brought Borger around to score and gave the Wolves a 2-0 lead.
West Georgia threatened again in the third, loading the bases with one out, but senior #
Dylan Coleman# grounded into an inning-ending double play. In the fourth, UWA picked up their first run of the game and put two runners on with two outs before Skinner ended the threat with a strikeout to end the frame with UWG leading 2-1.
The Wolves made it hurt, as #
Tyler Landmon# led off the fifth with a single, then came in to score later in the inning on a sacrifice fly from junior #
TJ Eifert#, giving West Georgia a 3-1 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Tigers put two runners on with one out, with the second reaching on an error. The next batter, Jacoby Robi doubled, scoring both runs and tying the game. Later in the inning, with Robi on third, another error scored him from third to give UWA the final lead.
Senior #
Randall Wright# came with one out in the seventh and worked the remainder of the game, taking the loss for the Wolves and moving to 3-5 on the season. The Wolves were led by Dickson at the plate, who went 2-for-3 on the day. UWG had seven hits, with each of the top-three in the lineup (Jackson, McLemore and EIfert) had a hit in addition to Landmon and Borger.
West Georgia will now play North Alabama at 10:00 a.m. at AT&T Field on Saturday morning, weather permitting, in a win or go home game, the first of this year's tournament.
