ROME, Ga. – West Alabama put together an 11-run third inning on the way to a 13-9 college baseball victory over Shorter, earning a split with the Hawks in a Gulf South Conference doubleheader Friday at the Robert H. Ledbetter Baseball Complex. Shorter won game one, 8-4.
The split leaves West Alabama 27-14 overall, 16-10 in GSC play. Shorter is 20-20 and 8-17. The Tigers and the Hawks play the rubber game of the series Saturday at noon CDT.
With the score tied at 3-3 after three innings in game one, Shorter got a two-run home run from Patrick Sanderson to give the Hawks a lead they would not relinquish. Shorter picked up three more runs in the seventh inning on a bases-loaded triple by Isaiah Madella that made it 8-3 Hawks.
Marcus Morrisette's triple drove in
Nick Delgado, who had doubled with one out in the ninth to cut the score to the final margin in game one.
Brock Montgomery doubled in a run in the second inning for UWA and Dustin Lawson hit a solo homer in the second inning for Shorter.
Morrisette struck first for West Alabama in the second game, blasting a solo homer over the left-centerfield wall for a 1-0 Tiger lead, but the Hawks took a three-run lead after two innings, using four hits to score three in the bottom of the second. The home run was Morrisette's sixth.
West Alabama sent 15 batters to the plate in the 11-run third inning.
Luke Phillips had a single, a double and drove in four runs in the inning. A Delgado single drove in two more, as did a bases-loaded walk by Montgomery, a single by
Taylor Stafford, a double and a sacrifice fly by
Dylan Little and a single by
Luke Latham. Montgomery topped off UWA scoring with his sixth homer of the year, a solo shot in the sixth inning.
Shorter pushed across three in the fourth, two in the sixth and a single run in the seventh to account for all the scoring.
Shorter starter Jacob Ramos (4-3) earned the pitching win in the opener, allowing two earned runs on six hits while striking out nine in six innings of work.
Braxton Wallace (1-2) was tagged with the loss, allowing four runs on six hits while striking out four.
Colton Morgan (3-2) picked up the win for West Alabama in the second game, even though he allowed six runs on seven hits. Hawks starter Jerry Laing (3-1) took the loss, giving up six runs on five hits.
Delgado had four hits in the doubleheader for West Alabama. Morrisette, Phillips and Little had three each.
Lawson rapped out a game-high five hits for Shorter, while Bailey Gerstner chipped in four. Will Winslow and Luis Acevedo chipped in three hits each.
