Carrollton, GA - The West Georgia Wolves moved to 24-11 on the season Wednesday afternoona t Cole Field, using a powerful pitching effort and a solid day at the plate to take a 12-1 midweek baseball matchup over the Miles Golden Bears.
Colton Duttweiler, who was a starter for head coach
Skip Fite as a true freshman in 2014, has not been on the mound for a start in 12 appearances this season before Wednesday afternoon. In fact, Fite used the sophomore as a middle reliever, and Duttweiler's longest stint off the year coming into the day was 2.1 innings against Lee on February 27. That changed today, as the Clermont, Ga. native tossed five innings, allowing four hits and one earned run while striking out six to earn his third victory of the year.
The bullpen was solid for the Wolves on the afternoon, as the quartet of
Josh Morgan,
Ethan Hunter,
Chris Burdette, and
Tyler Gunnin worked four nearly perfect innings, allowing a hit and a walk among them. Morgan was especially effective, striking out the side in his one inning of work.
Duttweiler struggled with command early in the contest, allowing the leadoff man to reach first on a strikeout with a wild pitch. He then advanced to third on another wild pitch, then came in on a groundout to give the Golden Bears a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
But the Wolves' bats would not allow that lead to stand for long, as
Tyler Hutch led off the bottom of the first with a double. Two batters later, Hutch came in to score on the third home run of the season for first baseman
Dalton Rogers, as the junior belted the second pitch he saw over the right-center field fence for a 2-1 lead for the Wolves. But that would be the only scoring of the early part of the game, as both pitchers settled down until the fourth, when the Wolves broke through again.
In the bottom of the fourth, the first three UWG batters reached base, and Hutch brought home
Walker Borneman on a sacrifice fly for a 3-1 lead. That advantage expanded to 5-1 on the very next pitch, as
Sumner McWhorter doubled to center, scoring
Drew Eady, then
Troy Brown scored on a wild pitch to give Duttweiler a little more cushion.
In the fifth, the Wolves broke the game wide open, plating six runs in the frame to take an 11-1 lead.
Payton Mann led off the inning with a walk, followed by an infield single from
Artemis Kadkhodaian, who had a stellar game, going 4-for-5 with a run scored. Borneman and Eady then drew back-to-back walks, scoring Mann for a 6-1 advantage and the bases were still loaded without an out.
Eady, Brown, McWhorter and
Garrett Hayes each had a single RBI inthe inning, but the big blow came from the bat of Rogers, who delivered a one-out-two-run single to make the score 11-1 heading to the seventh.
Taylor Bentley scored off of a Miles error in the 8th for the final run of the game and Gunnin closed it out in the nintth in a non-save situation.
The Wolves had 10 hits on the day, with Rogers and Kadkhodaian the only players with multiple hits. Rogers had a run scored and four RBI on the afternoon to lead the UWG offensive. As a team, West Georgia was very patient at the plate, drawing nine walks on the afternoon.
West Georgia returns to action this weekend at Valdosta State, taking on the Blazers in a doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday in a crucial Gulf South Conference matchup.
