Box Score AUGUSTA, Ga. – Seven first-inning hits for five runs was enough for the Jaguars to hold on to an eventual 6-4 non-conference win over the Erskine Flying Fleet Tuesday afternoon at Lake Olmstead Stadium.
In their third meeting of the season, Erskine (14-3) and GRU Augusta's (11-12) offenses got off to a hot start in the first inning. The Fleet went ahead 1-0 in the top of the first, but the Jaguars knocked seven hits in their first at-bat to take a 5-1 lead. Jags starter David Bermudez (0-2) tossed 4.0 innings and got five strikeouts to keep his team on top of the Fleet.
JD Sabo, Tyler Roberts, and Jeff Rice singled to start the game, with Rice driving in Sabo for the game-tying run. Ryan Khan loaded the bases with another single and Ross Miles ripped an opposite- field single that scored two. In the next two at-bats, Zach Murray singled and Chase Loyd lined one back up the middle to build a 5-1 lead off seven first-inning hits.
It was enough for Erskine to relieve righty starter Alex Rhodes and bring in Shannon Smith. The Fleet gave Smith another run to work with, when they cut the lead to 5-2 on a fourth-inning double off the bat of Destin Nichols. Bermudez was pulled for Jamie Suggs to start the fifth as Suggs stranded two on base to escape the inning with the Jags holding the lead.
The Fleet got a leadoff double to left field from Logan Galliher. He would score in Wooten's next at-bat, when Wooten lined a hanging curveball from Suggs to center field. Head Coach Jason Eller went with Tyler Brown in the bullpen who entered the game with runners on first and second. After he was called for a balk, Brown got a groundball to the right side that scored the runner on third for a one-run game. Brown got two groundball double plays to end the Fleet's seventh and eighth inning at bats. GRU held a 6-4 lead after a seventh-inning fielder's choice scored another Jag. Clint Echols came in to record his fourth save of the year and seal a 6-4 non-conference win.
Loyd owned the day with a 3-for-4 performance and two RBI. Tyler Roberts was 2-for-4 and Sabo went 2-for-5 in the win. Bermudez (1-2) got the win for GRU in 1.1 innings. GRU commences Peach Belt Conference play this Friday with a single-game at 6:00 p.m. against Lander to start a three-game series in Greenwood, S.C.
