Lawrenceville, Ga. – Shawnee State baseball snapped a three game losing streak on Friday evening, defeating #6 Georgia Gwinnett 9-8 in game one of a three game set.
The Bears would strike first, with Nick Rose (SO/Olentangy, Ohio) singling home Brandon Reaman (SR/Dayton, Ohio) in the top of the first inning to give Shawnee State a 1-0 lead. SSU would then score another in the top of the third inning, when Rose would again drive in Reaman, this time with a sacrifice fly.
Georgia Gwinnett would score three runs to take the lead in the bottom of the third, with the big blow being Brady Hamilton's RBI double to drive in two. However, Shawnee State would respond with three in the top of the fifth to retake the lead. Chris Nunez (FR/Sunrise, Florida) would reach first on a single and advance to second on a wild throw by Angel Soto. Reaman would move him to third on a single, and JT Boggs (JR/South Shore, Ky.) would single him home, with Reaman also scoring on the play when Jean Figueroa would misplay the ball in right. Boggs would score one batter later on Chase Thurber (SO/Andover, Ohio)'s groundout.
Blake Marshall (SO/Lexington, Ky.) would drive home Sam Gerhold (JR/Shelton, Washington) in the top of the sixth, match by Deion Sellar's RBI double in the bottom of the sixth. Georgia Gwinnett would score again in the bottom of the seventh, when Austin Alexander would drive in Figueroa to make the score 6-5.
Shawnee State would then score three in the top of the eighth, all with two outs. Blake Marshall would strike out, but would reach first after the third strike was dropped, and would reach second on a wild throw that would score Andrew Dito (SR/Loraine, Ohio). Brandon Reaman would drive in pinch runner Joe Loyd (SO/Bidwell, Ohio) and pinch hitter Casey Claflin (JR/Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) on a fly ball dropped by Figueroa to end the scoring for Shawnee State.
Georgia Gwinnett would threaten the lead, scoring a run in the eighth and two in the ninth. However, after Austin Alexander's two-run homer in the ninth, Shawnee State reliever Jesse James (JR/Grayson, Ky.) would settle down and get the final three outs to seal the upset victory.
Derek Moore (SR/Wheelersburg, Ohio) would allow four runs on 10 hits and strike out eight in six innings to get the win for SSU. Nikolay Uherek would allow nine runs on 10 hits, but only four of the runs were earned in the loss. Jesse James would throw 1.1 innings of relief to earn the save.
With the win, Shawnee State improve to 8-23 on the season. Georgia Gwinnett falls to 25-12.
Shawnee State and Georgia Gwinnett play a doubleheader on Saturday to conclude their series. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 1:00pm.
