Carrollton, GA - The West Georgia Wolves took the best that West Alabama had to throw at them and advanced to the winner's bracket of the 2016 Gulf South Conference baseball tournament with a 7-3 victory on Saturday night in Pensacola, Fla.

Matthew Norton threw seven strong innings on the bump for the Wolves and was backed up by a big night from junior shortstop Caleb Lopes, who homered twice to lead the Wolves to victory on the opening day of the conference championship.

How It Happened:
The two teams went back and forth for the first two innings of the game, with UWG starter Matthew Norton and UWA starter Jorge Cruz battling head-to-head. West Georgia was the first to break through in the contest as shortstop Caleb Lopes single-handedly opened a rally in the top of the third. The junior drew a two-out walk, then stole second before coming home with the first run of the game on a single from Dalton Rogers.

Garrett Hayes generated the second run of the game for the Wolves by leading off the fourth with a double. He moved over to third on a bunt, then scored on the same play from catcher Payton Mann, as the Wolves led 2-0 after four. In that stretch, Norton continued to cruise, as he allowed no runs on three hits through the first five innings of work.

In that fifth inning, West Georgia struck for two more, starting with Mr. Rally himself, as Lopes homered to lead off the inning. Tyler Hutch then walked, stole second, then came home for the fourth run of the game for the Wolves on a double from Drew Eady as West Georgia headed to the sixth with a 4-0 lead.

Mann led off the sixth with a single, then came home later in the inning on a double from Cade Marlowe, giving Norton a 5-0 lead. West Alabama finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth, taking advantage of a UWG error and two hits, and the two teams headed to the 7th inning with West Georgia leading 5-1.

Lopes struck again in the top of the 8th, delivering a towering two-run shot over the left field wall for his second home run of the game. But West Alabama wasn't going out quietly, as the Tigers scored two in the bottom of the 8th, forcing UWG head coach Skip Fite to bring on Mitchell Mannino in relief of Norton.

Mannino allowed one run to cross, but immediately induced a double-play to stop the bleeding. The junior retired the final six outs of the game to secure the 7-3 victory.

Norton moves to 7-1 on the year, helping the Wolves move to 38-12 on the year. West Georgia pounded out 12 hits on the night, led by Marlowe, who was 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Lopes had the biggest night, going 2-for-4 with a walk, two home runs, three RBI and two runs scored. Hayes and Eady also had multi-hit games, as Hayes was 2-for-4 with a run scored while Eady was 2-for-5 with an RBI.

Up Next:
West Georgia will play second-seeded Delta State at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday evening, while the Tigers will take on top-seeded West Florida at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow.