CARROLLTON, Ga. – The University of West Georgia baseball team punched its postseason ticket courtesy of a Saturday sweep at Cole Field.

The Wolves secured the No. 7 seed for next week's Gulf South Conference Tournament behind 16-6 and 6-0 victories over Christian Brothers, bumping up two spots in the league standings in the process and leaving little drama for Sunday's regular-season finale.

"It was real good for us to continue to swing the bats, get quality starts, play good defense. We knew what we had to do this weekend to put ourselves in position to get in the Gulf South Conference Tournament and our guys came out and did extremely well. I'm very proud of them," UWG head coach Jeff Smith said.

West Georgia (17-21, 16-19 GSC) received a pair of quality starts from Robert Coleman and Jack Rasmussen, highlighted by a dominant display from the freshman right-hander from Duluth in Saturday's nightcap.

Rasmussen fired a complete-game shutout, yielding just five hits with one walk and 15 strikeouts to stamp the exclamation point on Saturday's sweep.

The 15 punchouts were one shy of tying UWG's all-time single-game record established by Buddy Murphy over half a century ago in 1967.

"Jack had his 'A' stuff tonight. He threw the ball extremely well and gave us an outstanding performance. He has 15 Ks and gives up five hits. Gave us that quality start and just an outstanding performance," Smith said.

Game 2
The nightcap was scoreless through four-and-a-half innings until UWG sophomore designated hitter Joe Skinner went yard with a shot over the left-field fence in the bottom of the fifth. The Wolves tacked on a pair of runs on back-to-back doubles from left fielder Dan Oberst and sophomore shortstop Brody Wortham and an RBI single from freshman catcher Jackson Webb for the 3-0 lead entering the sixth.

Skinner blasted his second home run in as many at-bats in the sixth to push the lead to 4-0 and the Wolves added two more runs in the eighth with Webb belting his third base knock of the contest and junior second baseman Cody Mish singling, setting up a run scoring on a wild pitch and an RBI groundout by Hill.

That proved to be much more than Rasmussen would need on this day in his best performance in a UWG uniform thus far in his promising career.

Skinner powered the offense in Game 2 with his two home runs, while Webb (3-for-4, SB, 2B, run, RBI), Oberst (2-for-4, 2B, run) and junior center fielder Jason Fointno (2-for-4) also had multiple-hit efforts.

"Joe got a couple of balls up in the zone and was able to get good barrels on them and drive them out of the park," Smith said. "The first one got us on the board, and that's what we talked to our guys about was scoring early and often. We had runners on second and third with less than two outs in the first inning and didn't come across, so it was huge for Joe to give us that lift there."

Game 1
Coleman ignited the positive pitching narrative on Saturday, delivering another quality start to earn the win in the 16-6, seven-inning Game 1 decision, tossing 6.1 innings of six-hit ball, yielding three earned runs with three walks and eight punchouts.

"He came out and got going early and allowed our offense to get things going and we were able to put some runs on the board and do well," Smith said.

The Wolves raced out to a 10-0 lead, plating a pair of runs in each of the first two innings before putting up a six-spot in the fifth to bust the game open.

In the first, Fointno started the rally with a leadoff walk, while Oberst was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs.

Junior third baseman Collin Moore got the Wolves on the board courtesy of a one-out single and Oberst would later score on a throwing error.

In the second, junior first baseman Joseph Hill stroked a leadoff double, which was followed by a base knock from junior left fielder Ethan Brant. An Oberst RBI sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single from Wortham stretched the lead to 4-0.

Following two scoreless frames, the Wolves erupted with six runs on six hits and two errors in the fifth, including RBI singles from Mish and Brant and an RBI double by Wortham.

The Bucs (5-32, 3-31) cut into the lead with a single run in the sixth and five in the seventh to pull within 10-6, but the Wolves countered with a six-run home half to end it early, highlighted by a three-run bomb from Oberst, his 17^th of the season.

UWG busted out 14 hits and capitalized on nine walks in the opener with Mish (3-for-4, run, 2 RBI), Hill (3-for-5, 2 2B, 2 runs, RBI), Brant (2-for-3, 2 runs, RBI), Wortham (2-for-4, BB, 2B, run, 2 RBI) and Moore (2-for-4, BB, 2 runs, RBI) delivering multiple-hit performances. Additionally, Fointno drew three walks in the leadoff spot with two runs scored and an RBI and Oberst went 1-for-1 with a walk, two runs scored and four RBI.

The Wolves close out the series with a 1 p.m. regular-season finale on Sunday to celebrate Senior Day at Cole Field, where the program will honor Oberst, Justin Johnson, Sawyer Steele and Lane Griffith.

"It's going to be nice to celebrate the seniors and their career here. We're looking to send them off on a win and a home series sweep. That would be great for them and plus it would keep us on a roll for next week," Smith said.