YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – David Atwood hit a grand slam in the opener while Zach Bricknell connected on two homers in game two as the Young Harris College baseball team swept a Peach Belt doubleheader from Augusta State University Saturday (March 30) afternoon at Zell B. Miller Field.
Young Harris won the opener 10-8 before claiming 12-5 victory in game two. The Mountain Lions improved to 15-15 overall and to 5-13 in the Peach Belt as they swept their first-ever PBC weekend series. The Jaguars fell to 10-25 and 3-15. Young Harris returns to action Wednesday (April 3) with a 4 p.m. contest against Tusculum College in Greeneville, Tenn.
Atwood's slam – his third homer of 2013 – highlighted an eight-run sixth inning in game one as the Mountain Lions turned a 5-1 deficit into a 9-5 lead. Bricknell's bases-clearing triple to deep center field earlier in the inning got Young Harris within a run at 5-4. Tom Valichka's RBI single tied the game at 5 before Atwood connected on a 1-0 pitch off Augusta State reliever David Bermudez (2-3) and deposited it over the left-field fence to give the Mountain Lions the lead for good.
Dom Wyshinski, who had a solo homer in the fourth inning, led the Mountain Lions with three hits in the opener while Trey Rogers, Bricknell, Valichka and Mike Medori had two apiece. Valichka also drove in two runs. James Mills (2-2) earned the win in relief.
The Mountain Lions took the lead for good in the nightcap with a four-run fifth to open up a 6-2 lead as they took advantage of two Jaguar errors. Adam Moore and Bricknell had run-scoring singles and Valichka contributed a sacrifice fly in the inning.
After the Jaguars scored three unearned runs in the top of the seventh to pull within a run at 6-5, Bricknell led off the bottom of the inning with a homer to right-center field. Bricknell, who has nine homers on the season, added a two-run homer to the same spot an inning later as the Mountain Lions added five insurance runs. Wyshinski added a sacrifice fly while Moore had a RBI triple and Atwood accounted for the other run on a single back up the middle.
Moore and Bricknell had three hits each in game two while Bricknell drove in four runs and Moore had three RBI and Valichka had two more. Taylor Topping (1-2) earned the win in relief while Tyler Ross (1-2) took the loss.
