Moon's four RBI's not enough as Hurricanes take series opener over Jags

By Rodrigo Burgos Avila | Editor in Chief

The Augusta University baseball team dropped the series opener to Georgia Southwestern 14-5 Friday night at Jaguar Field in a matchup between two of the top teams in the Peach Belt Conference.

With the loss, Augusta moves to 6-1 in conference play and 10-7 overall, while the Hurricanes improve to 6-1 in the PBC and 11-6 on the season.

Georgia Southwestern wasted little time setting the tone. After scratching across a run early, the Hurricanes broke the game open in the top of the second. Griffin Stewart surrendered a three-run homer after allowing a run earlier in the inning, turning a tight contest into a 4-0 deficit. Despite allowing just three hits through the first three innings, the damage proved costly as the first two hits both came around to score.

Augusta had a chance to answer in the bottom half of the second. Davis Newman tripled to lead off the inning, putting the Jaguars in prime position to respond. However, on a pitch that got away from the catcher, he was thrown out at the plate trying to score, halting the momentum.

Defensively, the Jaguars flashed some leather to keep things from getting further out of hand. In the third, Nolan Turner made a diving stop on a sharply hit ball and recorded the out at second, preventing another potential rally.

Stewart settled in after the rocky second and worked into the sixth inning. He finished 5.1 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits while striking out seven. Two more hits in the sixth led to another run, extending the Hurricanes’ lead to 5-0 and ending his night.

Jameson Whittier came on in relief, but Georgia Southwestern continued to add on. A triple and a chopped ball to first resulted in an RBI single, pushing the lead to 6-0. Another RBI single later in the inning made it 7-0 as the Canes outhit Augusta 9-1 through seven innings.

Georgia Southwestern’s Evan Koehler, was dominant throughout. The right-hander tossed seven strong innings, throwing over 100 pitches , 78 for strikes, while allowing just three hits and striking out nine to earn his fourth win of the season.

Augusta finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh. After Jake Vachon recorded just the second Jaguar hit of the night with a single to shallow center and then Kent Moon delivered the big swing. Moon launched a three-run homer, his fifth of the season, to cut the deficit to 7-3 and inject life into the home dugout.

Any momentum was short-lived.

An error in the top of the eighth put runners on second and third with no outs, and the Hurricanes capitalized. An RBI double to shallow center marked their 11th hit of the night and made it 8-3. Another RBI single stretched the lead to 9-3. After Whittier exited, Aeden Cates entered in relief but surrendered a three-run homer as Georgia Southwestern pulled away 12-3. The Hurricanes finished the night with 14 hits and added two more runs late to seal the 14-5 win.

Moon led the Jaguars offensively with four RBIs, adding a sacrifice fly in the ninth. Nathan Martin also drove in a run in the final frame. Augusta finished with five hits, with Vachon collecting two late singles.

The two teams will meet again Saturday at Jaguar Field with first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m. as Augusta looks to even the series.

More to come…

Contact Rodrigo Burgos Avila at rburgosavila@augusta.edu.

At the top of the page, Jake Vachon (2) hits a single for the second hit of the night for AU. The junior from Manchester, NH went 2-3 with a run scored. At the bottom of the page, Griffin Stewart tosses a pitch during Friday’s start. (photos by Rodrigo Burgos Avila/the Bell Ringer)