Georgia Highlands drops Saturday doubleheader

Georgia Highlands baseball dropped a conference doubleheader Saturday at LakePoint to visiting Andrew College, falling 9-6 and 8-2.

The sweep by the Tigers earned a split in the four-game series for the week. The Chargers had won the first two games of the series in one-sided games.

Cotton Phillips (4 IP, 0R, 1H, 0BB, 4K) was the opening game winner for Andrew Saturday with four innings of relief work for starting pitcher Hunter Norman (4 IP, 6ER, 8H, 2BB, 5K).

Justin Barr was 4-for-4 with a walk and three RBI to lead the Tigers’ offense. Joey Fletcher and L.J. Bryant both added a pair of hits and two RBI apiece.

Early defensive mistakes cost Georgia Highlands. The Chargers gave up five unearned runs in the first three innings and six unearned in the games.

Georgia Highlands trailed 5-1 early, but held a 6-5 lead through five innings only to have the Tigers send the game to extra innings with a run in the sixth.

Andrew posted three runs in the top of the eighth inning and Phillips allowed a double, but worked a scoreless inning to complete the Tigers’ win.

Skylar McPhee had three hits for the Chargers in the first game. Malik Spratling had two hits including a double, a home run, and four RBI.

In Game 2 Andrew scored three times in the second inning, added a single run in the fourth, and four more in the fifth inning on their way to a six-run win. Georgia Highlands cut the lead to 3-1 in the second inning and scored a run in the fifth after the Tigers had taken an 8-1 lead. Daniel Lee (4.2 IP, 2ER, 4H, 1BB, 6K) and Chandler Griggs (2.1 IP, 0R, 2H, 2K) combined on the mound for Andrew.

Bryant and Clint Sellers combined for five hits and three RBI.

Parker Orr had three hits including a solo home run for the Chargers. Blake Brady, Trace Twardoski, and Hunter Moody (RBI) had the other GHC hits.

With Saturday’s wins, Andrew improves to 22-25 overall and 10-11 in conference play.

Georgia Highlands (25-19, 11-10) travels to ABAC Monday, hosts West Georgia Tech Wednesday night, and travels to Gordon College Friday afternoon.