Carrollton, GA - The West Georgia baseball team rose to the occasion on Sunday afternoon in Jackson, Tenn., needing nothing but victory to ensure a third-place spot in the Gulf South Conference tournament next weekend. And victory is what head coach
Skip Fite received, as the Wolves earned that 3rd spot by lambasting the Union Bulldogs 10-1 in the opener and 5-0 in the nightcap.
The second win was jjust a little bit more special, as it put the Wolves into air that hasn't been in Carrollton in more than a decade, as the victory was the 30th of the season for West Georgia. With the two wins on the day, the Wolves are now 30-13 overall and 21-10 in Gulf South Conference play, by far surpassing the most GSC wins in school history. The last time UWG had 30 or more wins in a season was 2004, when UWG went 31-16 and finished in fifth place in the GSC.
The day began with
Jamie Sexton getting much more offensive support than he would need on this afternoon, as the senior plowed through the Union lineup. In fact, starting pitching was the name of the game for the Wolves on Sunday, as Fite did not have to use his bullpen at all in either game. Sexton tossed a five-hitter in the opener, going the distance and throwing just 93 pitches in the game to move to 8-3 on the year.
Many times, the second time through the lineup is all a team needs to get to a pitcher, and that is exactly what the Wolves did with Union starter Marty Coursey. In his second at-bat, coming in the third inning, sophomore second baseman
Artemis Kadkhodaian delivered a one-out double, then
Dalton Rogers drove him home with a single to give the Wolves a 1-0 lead. Union tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, but would only come up to bat once for the remainder of the doubleheader with anything but a deficit.
West Georgia scored three runs in the top of the fifth, sixth and seventh to close out the scoring and allow Sexton to cruise. The bulk of the offensive in game one came from the top of the order, as
Tyler Hutch, Kadkhodaian and Rogers, the 1-2-3 hitters for UWG, went 8-for-15 in the contest. Hutch socred two runs and drove in one, Kadkhodaian scored three and drove in a run while Rogers delivered four RBI and a run scored in a day that included his fourth home run of the season.
Drew Eady was the only other UWG player with two hits, scoring two and driving in a run.
Game two saw Fite give the ball to
Matthew Norton, who tossed his team-leading fourth complete game of the year and his second shutout. He allowed three hits on the day, giving up one in each of the even-numbered innings of the seven-inning contest. His line was strong, striking out four and throwing just 77 pitches to pick up his seventh victory of the year.
The sixth inning was the big frame for the Wolves, as they entered that inning clinging to a 1-0 advantage. In an effort to give their pitcher a cushion, the UWG lineup sent 10 men to the plate in the inning, scoring four runs. Kadkhodaian led off the frame with a double, the first of six-straight players reaching base safely. When the dust cleared, the Wolves had a 5-0 advantage with just six outs left to get defensively. Norton allowed one hit in those final six outs, needing just 11 pitches to close out the final two innings of the contest.
West Georgia will finish out the series on Monday afternoon at 2:00 p.m., with
Brandon Goldsmith getting the ball in the final game of the 2015 regular season. Despite the fact that UWG has locked up the third seed at the GSC tournament and will play West Florida in the first round on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. (EST), the final game is highly important to Fite and his charges. The Wolves came into the weekend as the No. 7 team in the South Region rankings, needing wins to move up into the top-5 to try to ensure a spot at the NCAA Tournament.
