YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – Young Harris College hit four home runs as the Mountain Lions defeated Georgia Southwestern State University 13-7 in a Peach Belt Conference baseball game Sunday (April 6) afternoon at Zell B. Miller Field.
The Mountain Lions swept the three-game series from the Hurricanes as they improved to 23-16 overall and to 11-10 in the Peach Belt, while Georgia Southwestern fell to 10-23 and 5-16. Young Harris continues the homestand with a two-game set against No. 12 Delta State University beginning Tuesday (April 8) at 6 p.m.
Josh Rudnik hit two home runs while Zach Wall and Zeke Gribble had one each as the Mountain Lions collected 16 hits against four Hurricane pitchers. Every starter except one had at least one hit and seven of the nine at least two. Rudnik, who has seven home runs on the season, led the way with three hits while David Atwood, Tom Valichka, Trey Rogers, Dom Wyshinski, Wall and Gribble had two hits apiece. Wyshinski and Wall each drove in three runs while Rudnik, Atwood and Gribble had two RBI each.
The Mountain Lions jumped out to a 5-0 lead through the first three innings. Rudnik led off the bottom of the first inning and smacked the first offering he saw from Georgia Southwestern starter Lance Shelton (1-7) over the right field wall. Atwood drove in two runs in the second with a two-run single to left. Valichka and Rogers hit back-to-back triples for a run in the third while Wall added a RBI single.
The Hurricanes got two runs back in their half of the sixth, but Rudnik hit a solo homer to left in the bottom of the inning to give the Mountain Lions a 6-2 lead. Young Harris extended its lead to 13-2 with two runs in the seventh and five more in the eighth inning. Wyshinski and Gribble had RBI singles in the seventh. Wyshinski stroked a two-run double to left-center in the eighth before Wall and Gribble followed with back-to-back home runs. Wall's two-run shot was his sixth of the year while Gribble's shot to right was his first.
Georgia Southwestern closed the gap with five runs – three of them unearned – in the ninth.
Rudnik (5-0) allowed three earned runs and struck out five in 8.1 innings to pick up the win, his second of the weekend against the Hurricanes.
