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Box Score 2 AUGUSTA, Ga. – The Jaguars split the Peach Belt Conference series with the No. 3 Armstrong Pirates Sunday afternoon at Jaguar Field, with Haley Birkle earning the game-one victory on the mound for GRU Augusta.
The Jaguars (15-26, 2-6 PBC) let the Pirates (25-7, 10-2 PBC) score first in the second inning when Heather Ellis plated Kat Vogler on a sacrifice fly ball to left field. Birkle (6-13) got Kacie Patterson to pop-up and end the inning with only run of damage allowed. The Jaguars were quiet in their half of the second, but took the lead in the third with three runs. Ashley Benton started the inning with a single and stole two bases to get to third with no outs.
Mallory Ferguson pushed one to the right side that gave Benton time to score the first Jag run of the day. Next up, Hannah Vaughn reached on an error for Kristen Bagley to crush a two-run homer for a 3-1 lead. It was Bagley's long ball of the season.
Birkle held the Pirates to five hits for one run as she went the distance in 7.0 innings to get the win, after the GRU offense plated another run for a 4-1 final. Benton and Rowland each had a hit and a scored run, while Bagley posted the only multi-hit performance of game one – going 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run.
In game two the Jaguars used three different arms from the bullpen to try and slow down Armstrong. The Pirates hit eight home runs in the game, while Hannah Reppert accounted for four of them, a new PBC record. Paige Deschaine made the start on the mound for the Jags in game two, allowing four hits for six runs in 1.2 innings, before Julia Banks took the hill for 2.0 innings of work. Banks gave up nine hits for 13 runs (seven earned) as the Pirates went on to total 15 hits in the game. Birkle came in to record 1.1 innings in the loss.
Benton had two more hits for the Jags who totaled six in the game, but pitching duo Jane Trzaska and Tori Bates held GRU scoreless to take a 20-0 final in five innings of game two. GRU Augusta hosts the Flagler Saints tomorrow for a PBC doubleheader at 1:00 p.m. on Jaguar Field.
