AMERICUS - A five-run fourth inning catapulted the Georgia Southwestern baseball team to its third-consecutive win, a 9-3 decision over Carson-Newman College, on Saturday evening at Hurricane Stadium.
It has been all about hits, hits and more hits for the Hurricanes lately. GSW belted a season-high 16 hits on Saturday and over the three-game winning streak, Southwestern has tallied 41 hits.
The Hurricanes improve to 13-33 this spring while Carson-Newman drops to 27-26.
It was C-N drawing first blood in the series opener as a two-out error in the third inning gave the Eagles a 1-0 advantage.
C-N repaid the favor in the bottom half of the inning when two Eagle errors led to a GSW run.
The Hurricanes opened things up in the fourth. After a leadoff out, GSW rattled off five consecutive singles and five runs to take a 6-1 lead. Southwestern finished with six hits in the inning.
GSW put together a four-hit, two-run inning in the fifth to stretch its lead to 8-1.
The Eagles scored their final two runs in the seventh and GSW tacked on a run in the eighth.
Eight of the nine batters in GSW's lineup collected a hit on Saturday. The Hurricanes strength came at the top of the order where leadoff hitter Michel Coffey (4-for-5) and No. 2 hitter John Duran (3-for-4) led the barrage. Coffey added an RBI and scored twice. Duran knocked in a pair. Randall Sheffield, Andrew Archer and Les Cromer added two hits apiece. Archer returned to the lineup for the first time since suffering a shoulder injury on Feb. 28.
Phillip Duncan had two hits for C-N.
On the mound, a pair of seniors making their final collegiate appearances for GSW combined to keep the Eagles in check. Starter Matt Weaver (2-8) threw the first 6 1/3 and allowed three runs - two earned - and seven hits. Weaver walked one and struck out six. Tyler Daniel handled the final 2 2/3 innings and walked one while striking out four.
Carson-Newman brought three pitchers into the game. Starter Brandon Timmerman (2-5) was knocked out in the fourth. He allowed six runs - four earned - behind eight hits and three strikeouts. Daniel Sharp surrendered two runs in his 3 1/3 innings and Marc Ulloa pitched the final three outs.
The two schools wrap up their two-game series and the 2012 season on Sunday at 1 p.m.
