AMERICUS, Ga. – Young Harris College scored three runs in the bottom of the 12th inning to rally for a 5-2 victory over Georgia Southwestern State University in the nightcap to earn a split of its Peach Belt Conference baseball doubleheader Saturday (Feb. 14) afternoon at Hurricane Stadium.
The Hurricanes won the opener 3-1.
Young Harris improved to 4-5 overall and to 1-1 in the league while the Hurricanes fell to 4-3 and 1-1. The two teams wrap up their three-game series with a 1 p.m. contest Sunday (Feb. 15).
Young Harris sent the second game into extra innings when Troy Kizer, who started the inning with a walk, scored an unearned run - courtesy of one of the five errors the Hurricanes committed in the nightcap – to tie the game at 2.
Georgia Southwestern had the best chance to score first in the extra innings as they loaded the bases on two hits and a walk with no one out in the bottom of the 10th, but YHC reliever Cole Amtmann (1-0) wiggled out of harm by striking out Josh Logan and getting Ethan Broome to hit into a double play.
Nick Sexton led off the top of the 12th with home run to left field – his first of 2015 - off Georgia Southwestern reliever Justin Barnes (1-1). Kizer added some insurance with a two-run double down the left field line after Tyler Washington reached on an infield single and Blake Suggs got on base on an Hurricane error.
Amtmann, who pitched four scoreless innings of relief, put the Hurricanes down in order after the leadoff hitter reached on an YHC error. Amtmann allowed just three hits and struck out three.
"Our pitching staff did a great job today keeping us in both games," said Young Harris head coach Travis Huffman. "Both starters pitched seven innings and our relievers didn't give up a run. We finally got a couple timely hits in the second game that we were missing in the first game."
The opener was a pitchers dual between starters – Justin Cooper for Young Harris and Kyle Romstadt for Georgia Southwestern. Romstadt (1-0) struck out nine in 5.1 innings for the Hurricanes while Cooper (2-1) struck out six in seven innings.
Georgia Southwestern got to Cooper in the fourth inning for three runs as Evan Alderman, Devyn Newberry and Gabe Selochan each drove in a run.
Young Harris got a run back in the sixth on a sacrifice fly from Spencer Thomas after Zach Wall led off the inning with a double down the left field line, but the Mountain Lions couldn't add any more runs as reliever Lawson Stewart earned his first save as he pitched 3.2 scoreless innings.
Sexton and Zach Odom each collected two hits for Young Harris in the opener.
