AUGUSTA, Ga.  – The Jaguars put up 18 hits in their 2015 season opener to win a 11-1 non-conference game over the Newberry Wolves at Lake Olmstead Stadium Saturday afternoon.

The Jaguars (1-0) went down 1-0 to the Wolves (0-1) to start the game in the first inning, but the Jaguars took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning and never let down.

Newberry's JoJo Bradley hit a triple to the right-field wall to start the game and an infield grounder scored him the next play for an early 1-0 lead. The Jaguars wasted no time in their first at bat of the 2015 season, when newcomer Clint Hardy saw one pitch as a Jaguar and sent it into left field for a leadoff single.

Junior-transfer Nick Rau followed suite of Newberry and tripled to the right-center gap to plate Hardy, before CJ Reed lined one to center field for a 2-1 swing. In the bottom of the second, GRU's Hardy kept it going with a two-RBI single after Connor Gilbert and Cole Thompson lead off the inning with back-to-back singles for a 4-1 lead.

The Wolves got runners to the corners with one out on GRU starting pitcher Tyler Brown, but Brown battled to escape the inning unscathed and keep the three-run lead. Brown (1-0) got the win in six innings pitched. He faced 22 batters and struck out one, while allowing one run on six hits in his sophomore debut on the mound.

GRU used a leadoff triple from Drew Taylor to start the bottom of the third and Christopher Michaels boosted the lead to 5-1 when he doubled to left to score Taylor.

Brown found his way out of another jam in the sixth, when Newberry got runners to the corners again. Brandan Sheridan rolled over to GRU second baseman Nick Rau. Rau took it himself and fired to first for the inning-ending groundball double play.

The Jags blew it open in the bottom of the sixth with four runs on four hits for a 9-1 lead and added two in the eighth for the 11-1 win.

Drew Taylor went 4-4 with three runs, while Hardy went 3-5 with two RBI. Rau was 2-4 for two RBI and two runs and Michals was 2-4 with one RBI.

The Jags waste zero time in between games, and hit the road to play at Newberry tomorrow, Sunday Feb. 1 for another 2:00 p.m. single non-conference game.

LIVE STATS

Fans of Jaguar Athletics can subscribe to the email listserve by clicking here. Fans can follow GRU Athletics at www.jaguarsroar.com and receive short updates on Facebook at GRU_Jaguars and on Twitter at @GRU_Jaguars.