HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The march towards first place in the conference continued for UWG Baseball on Friday as the Wolves won their seventh GSC game in their last eight after a 13-7 win over the Alabama Huntsville Chargers.
The bats were on fire yet again for West Georgia (22-5, 10-3 GSC) as the Wolves used 13 runs on 12 hits to propel themselves over Alabama Huntsville (15-13, 6-7 GSC), taking Game One of the series.
"I'm proud of the guys with the way that we played," said coach Smith. "We played with some aggressiveness, obviously at the plate. The wind conditions weren't ideal, especially for pitchers but I'm really proud of the guys."
Peyton Berry got the ball for West Georgia and threw a painless first inning to send us to the second where the Wolves struck first courtesy of an RBI single from
Jackson Webb that scored
Anthony Calabro.
The Chargers responded quickly in their half of the second as a solo shot from Carson Villalta knotted the game at one before Berry retired the side to send us to the third.
In the third, a lead-off single and an RBI-double from UAH's Landon Ezzell would bite the Berry and the Wolves as the Chargers took their first lead of the game at 2-1. Berry would settle down, retiring the side with a strikeout to send us to the fourth.
The Wolves couldn't get anything going with the bats in their half of the fourth, but Berry would bounce back with a painless 1-2-3 inning in the bottom half to set the stage for West Georgia's offense in the fifth.
Webb got the party in the fifth for UWG with a lead-off single which was followed by a sacrifice bunt from
Joseph Glozier. With an opportunity to tie the game,
Edgar Cruz singled to right field, advancing Webb to third to bring up
Sam Ladner with runners on first and third with one out. Lander belted the second pitch that he saw over the left field fence, regaining the lead for West Georgia. That's all the Wolves would get in the fifth as they took their 4-2 lead into the bottom half where Berry pitched his second 1-2-3 inning of the game.
UWG kept their foot on the gas in the sixth as Calabro launched a lead-off home run to extend West Georgia's lead to 5-2. The Wolves weren't done in the inning as a walk from Glozier and singles from Webb and Emory loaded the bases with one out. Ladner stepped to the plate and worked the count, drawing a bases loaded walk to put West Georgia up 6-2.
In the bottom half of the inning, Alabama Huntsville's bats awoken as back-to-back home runs from the Chargers cut the Wolves lead to two. Berry retired the next to batters with relative ease, before surrendering a single which was followed by UAH's third home run of the inning that tied that game at six.
At this point in seventh, the West Georgia bats were red hot.
Henry Daniels drew a lead-off walk, before Calabro ripped an RBI-double down the left field line to give the Wolves the lead right back.
Logan Fink quickly extended UWG's lead to 8-6 with an RBI-single which scored Calabro. An at bat later, Fink stole second, setting up an RBI opportunity for Glozier who delivered with an RBI-single to give the Wolves a three-run cushion, going into the bottom half of the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh,
Ezra Brown got the call from the bullpen to relieve Berry after six innings of work. After surrendering a lead-off walk, Brown struck out the next two batters until back-to-back singles from the Chargers scored their only run of the inning to make it a 9-7 game to begin the eighth.
Back-to-back-to-back walks drawn by Ladner,
Cade Hohl, and Daniels was the beginning of a monster inning for West Georgia as Calabro stepped into the box with the bases loaded and nobody out. A sac fly from Calabro scored Ladner before Fink cleared the bases with a massive three-run home run to break the game wide open for the Wolves.
After a four-run inning for West Georgia, UWG took a 13-7 lead into the bottom half of the eighth where Brown pitched a clean 1-2-3 inning. Brown remained in the game for the ninth and threw a scoreless frame to clinch a 13-7 win for the Wolves in game one of this weekend's three-game series.
Fink and Ladner led West Georgia with four RBIs a piece, while Webb and Calabro finished with three and two hits, respectively.
"I thought Fink hit well and Ezra came in and threw three solid innings," coach Smith continued. "We had three or four guys with multiple hits today and that's what we want. Now its time to come back tomorrow and close out the series."
UWG will be right back at it tomorrow for Game's two and three of the series which is set to begin at 2:00 p.m.
