Carrollton, GA - Despite the cold morning on Sunday in Carrollton, the UWG bats remained red-hot in the first game against Tiffin as West Georgia won the front end of a doubleheader 12-3. However, in game two, the Dragons pulled off a comeback victory, winning 9-6 in a marathon 12-inning game.
The Wolves' bats were hot on the weekend, scoring 29 runs in the three-game series. Perhaps none were as hot as right-fielder
Brandon Mainor who was 7-for-8 in the first two games of the set, sitting out the nightcap on Sunday.
In the first game, UWG starter
Cory Watts picked up where he left off on Tuesday, allowing no runs through his first two innings of work. Meanwhile, on the Wolves side, the bats were on fire.
The Wolves wasted little time in the bottom of the first, as senior designated hitter
Michael Hornsby walked to leadoff the game for West Georgia. Following a passed ball, catcher
Michael Bridges singled, scoring the first run of the day. Mainor followed with a double and Bridges scored on a groundout by shortstop
Justin Smith to close out the scoring in the first with UWG leading 2-0.
The floodgates opened for the Wolves in the bottom of the second, as West Georgia claimed its biggest scoring inning of the season thus far.
Things got going with freshman
Brett Wright legging out an infield single to open the inning. Wright quickly took second, then moved to third on a passed ball. Following a walk to
Brandon Behenna, head coach Skip Fite rolled the dice, as
Alex Duhaime executed a nearly perfect sacrifice bunt, scoring Wright from third for a 3-0 lead. When the dust settled at the end of the inning, the Wolves had put 10 runs on the board and taken a commanding lead.
Watts went six innings in his second outing of the season, allowing three total runs (one earned) and giving up just three hits. The senior had good command, collecting five strikeouts on the day. Mainor and Bridges were each 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored apiece. Bridges led the way with three RBI to Mainor's two.
In the nightcap, the Wolves jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the first four innings of action, riding strong on the arm of freshman lefty
Danny Beadling. The young hurler had good command of his curveball on the afternoon, allowing four runs (three earned) on just five hits in his second outing of the season.
But despite the solid 5.1 innings from Beadling, the Dragons tied the game in the top of the sixth innings, and neither team could push a run across in the seventh, sending the game to extra innings.
John Lees was strong from the mound through his first five innings of relief work, but Tiffin pushed three runs across in the top of the 12th and West Georgia could not answer, as the Dragons took a 9-6 victory.
Ben Lillis and Hornsby were each 3-for-5 in the series finale to lead the Wolves at the plate. Both scored two runs and had an RBI in the contest.
As a team, the Wolves exit the weekend hitting .331 as a team on the year. Mainor, after a very strong opening week, leads the way with a .714 batting average. Bridges follows with a .500 average and Hornsby is at .429 on the year.
West Georgia is slated to return to the diamond on Tuesday afternoon against cross-state rival Augusta State, the former coaching ground for Fite. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.