 "Photo: uwgsports.com")
The University of West Georgia Wolves’ baseball team snapped a tough, eight-game losing streak and moved one game closer to the Gulf South Conference playoff race with a 14-8 slugfest over the visiting Reinhardt College Eagles last Wednesday.
The game began rather quietly for Wolves’ starter Kegan Bailey who gave up only one run in his first three innings. In the top of the first inning, Eagles’ right fielder Billy King batted a double then advanced to third base off of a single from centerfielder Michael Willis. A sacrifice fly from left fielder Brent Martin then scored King, putting the Eagles up 1-0.
The Wolves quickly answered back in the bottom half of the inning with three back-to-back singles from first baseman Michael Hornsby, shortstop Justin Smith, and second baseman Ben Lillis, the third of which brought Hornsby home for the tie at 1-1.
In the top of the fourth inning, however, Bailey ran into some trouble. Martin and third baseman Joe Niehoff began the inning with one single each. Another single by second baseman Will Foster brought Martin home for the run and advanced Niehoff to second base. Bailey then walked first baseman Brad Blalock loading the bases. An infield hit from shortstop Cory Cox and the resulting Fielder’s Choice threw Blalock out at second base while scoring Niehoff.
After a wild pitch thrown by Bailey scored Foster, UWG Coach Skip Fite took him out of the game and called Chris Ferguson in from the bullpen. Ferguson surrendered one RBI-single to designated hitter Michael Lonati, which scored Cox before getting out of the inning. Ferguson breezed through the fifth inning with the exception of a solo homerun by centerfielder Willis that put the Eagles up 6-1.
For the past week or so, the Wolves’ games could be characterized by a lack of batting. Beginning in the fifth inning of this game, the offense seemed eager to make up for that.
Third baseman Brandon Behenna belted a double into right center field and then moved over to third base on a single from left fielder Bradford Mattox. Hornsby then singled, scoring Behenna and moving Mattox over to third base. Following Hornsby’s lead, Smith batted his second single of the game which scored Mattox. Not to be left out, Lillis followed up his first inning appearance with a 2-RBI double, scoring both Hornsby and Smith. The next batter, right fielder Brandon Mainor, singled to left field putting Lillis over at third base. A sacrifice fly from centerfielder Brett Wright brought Lillis home, tying the game 6-6.
Ferguson struggled mildly in the top of the sixth inning. After giving up a single to Blalock, he struck out Cox and then walked Lonati. The next batter, King, knocked a triple into right field, scoring Blalock and Lonati to give the Eagles the lead back, 8-6.
The Wolves, however, were not finished putting on a slugging show starring, once again, Hornsby, Smith and Lillis. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Mattox hit a single to right field and then advanced to second base on Hornsby’s third single of the game. Smith followed with his third single of the game and scored Mattox. Lillis then batted his third single which brought home Hornsby and tied the game back up 8-8.
The Eagles’ pitching, for all intensive purposes, collapsed in the bottom of the seventh inning. Reliever Matt Rowlls walked catcher David Buchanan and Josh Whitehead, who pinched hit for designated hitter Mike Markakis. Behenna then singled to right field and loaded the bases. Reinhardt Coach Bill Popp substituted relief pitcher Chris Fletcher for Rowlls, but that did nothing to stop the damage. The next batter, Mattox, hit into a Fielder’s Choice, scoring Buchanan and advancing Whitehead to third base while Behenna was thrown out at second base. Next up, Hornsby bunted and ended up at third base on a throwing error by Fletcher. The error scored Whitehead and Mattox. Hornsby then scored on a wild pitch by Fletcher, putting the Wolves up 12-8.
The Eagles’ pitching woes continued into the eighth inning when Popp put Ryan McDowell on the mound in place of Fletcher. McDowell walked right fielder Mainor then surrendered a single to centerfielder Wright. Mainor moved over to third base when McDowell walked Buchanan. Mainor scored on a wild pitch while Wright advanced to third base. Whitehead then hit a sacrifice fly which scored Wright, giving the Wolves two more runs and putting them up, 14-8.
In addition to batting, the Wolves’ pitching problems for the past week seemed to disappear after the sixth inning. Relief pitchers Randall Wright and Preston Lowther combined for three shutout innings to end the game on, striking out a total of five batters while giving up only two hits and two walks.
Wright was credited with the win at 1-1, while Eagles relief pitcher Matt Rowlls acquired the loss at 0-1. Lillis finished the game with two singles, four RBI, one double and one run. Smith completed the game 4-for-5 with four singles, two RBI and one run as well. Hornsby tallied three singles, one RBI and four runs.
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