TIFTON, Ga. – The William Carey Baseball Team opened conference play with a 9-2 victory over Abraham Baldwin Friday night at Stallion Field.
"Really pleased with our effort tonight in all phases," said Head Coach
Bobby Halford. "Top of the order set the tone early. Thomas, Collins, and Ratliff really got us going and Shirah was good again at getting the groundballs. Defense was light's out all night with Bridley continuing his stellar play."
Carey wasted no time taking the lead, opening the game with a walk, a double by
Eli Collins, and back-to-back singles by
Preston Ratliff and
Jayden Mark which led to two runs crossing the plate. However, starting pitcher Trypp Lumpkin managed to limit the damage to just the two runs retiring the next three Crusader batters.
Carey added to their lead in the second on Collins' second straight double that scored
Bridley Thomas with Ratliff making it 4-0 WCU on a sac fly to right. After two scoreless innings,
Josh Alexander made it a five-run advantage Carey with a solo home run to right, but the Stallions managed to scratch across run in the bottom half if the inning to cut the lead back to four runs.
The Crusaders quickly responded in the top of the sixth. With one out in the inning and runners on second and third, Thomas scored Jerod Willams on a sac fly to center and Collins picked up his second RBI of the game on a single to right. ABAC picked up a run in the seventh inning, but WCU put the game away with two more runs in the ninth. After loading the bases with no outs, catcher's interference drove in the first run with
Tyler Ducksworth scoring Collins on a sac fly.
"It always feels good to get ahead early," said Thomas. "From there on everybody all around just did their jobs! Shout out to
Andrew Shirah and
Luke Lycette, both of them had great outings as well."
Andrew Shirah moved his record to 3-0, pitching 7 1/3 innings allowing two earned runs on four hits while striking out five.
Carey is back in action tomorrow, as they wrap up the series with a double header beginning at 12:00 pm.
