AMERICUS, Ga. — The Georgia Southwestern State University baseball team capped the regular season with a statement weekend, completing a series sweep of Columbus State University with a 9-3 win in Sunday's Peach Belt Conference finale at Hurricane Stadium.
The victory not only secured the weekend sweep, but marked the first time in program history the Hurricanes have swept the Cougars in a three-game series.
Jackson Raper was the story of the day.
After being thrust into action in the first inning, Raper delivered his longest outing of the season, tossing 8 1/3 innings without issuing a walk. The right-hander settled in quickly, retiring the side in order twice — including a clean ninth inning — while allowing just one run to earn the victory and improve to 3-1 on the year. His previous longest appearance this spring was four innings.
Columbus State struck first with a two-run opening frame, but the Hurricanes answered immediately in the second.
Josh McDonald,
Kelsen Johnson and
Drew Reaves opened the inning with consecutive hits before a series of wild pitches and productive outs flipped the game, giving GSW a 3-2 lead.
The Cougars briefly evened things at 3-3 in the fourth, but
Devon Murphy provided the spark once again. For the second straight day, Murphy left the yard, launching his ninth home run of the season in the fifth to put the Hurricanes back in front for good. The multi-hit effort marked his team-leading 21st of the spring.
With Raper in complete control on the mound, Georgia Southwestern broke things open in the seventh.
Jacob Reeves crushed a 381-foot, two-run homer to ignite the inning, his third of the season. Moments later, McDonald and
Kelsen Johnson added RBI singles before Reaves delivered again with a run-scoring double, capping a five-run surge that stretched the lead to 9-3.
The Hurricanes finished with 12 hits on the day, highlighted by three from
Kelsen Johnson and multi-hit performances from Murphy, McDonald and Reaves.
Raper handled the rest, working efficiently through the final frames and closing the door with authority as Georgia Southwestern put the finishing touches on a historic sweep to close out the regular season.
Next Up
The Hurricanes travel to Dahlonega, Ga., for the opening round of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament. GSW moved in front of Columbus State in the final PBC standings to grab the No. 5 seed and will play in a double-elimination pod that includes No. 1 seed North Georgia, No. 4 seed Flagler College and No. 8 seed Middle Georgia. GSW opens with Flagler at 5 p.m. Friday.
