YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. | Young Harris College clubbed five home runs - including two grand slams - as the Mountain Lions powered past No. 11 Flagler College to sweep a Peach Belt Conference baseball doubleheader Friday (March 23) evening at Zell B. Miller Field.
Tristin Smith hit two grand slams in the opener as Young Harris took game one 11-4, while
Rudy Gaona smacked two home runs in the nightcap as they won game two 11-6.
With the sweep, the Mountain Lions improved to 15-13 overall and to 9-8 in the Peach Belt. The Saints fell to 23-7 and 14-3. The teams will wrap up their three-game series at noon Saturday (March 24), weather permitting.
After Gaona,
Cory Ewald and
Tyler Washington started the second inning with singles off Flagler starter Robert Girgis (4-1), Smith hit a 2-2 offering over the left field fence for a grand slam to give YHC a 4-0 lead.
Smith, who has three home runs in 2018, hit another grand slam - also to left field - as part of a six-run fifth inning that gave the Mountain Lions a 10-1 lead.The first nine batters in the inning reach either by a hit, walk or was hit by a pitch. The eight RBI by Smith tied the school record set by Adam Moore (2014) and Jack Morrow (2013).
Bradley Klees added a pinch-hit homer to left-center field in the eighth inning. It was his second homer of the season.
Michael Livingston (3-1) earned the win for Young Harris as he scattered five hits and struck out seven over eight innings.
Gaona, Ewald and Smith each finished with two hits in the opener.
In the nightcap, the Mountain Lions spotted Flagler two runs in the first inning before they scored five unearned runs an inning later as YHC took advantage three Flagler miscues.
Brett Graczyk had a two-run single to left and
Logan Worley followed with a RBI ground out.
YHC took a 7-1 lead in the fifth as Gaona connected on a two-run homer to center field after
Jackson Jones led off with a double down the left field line. Gaona, who has five home runs on the season, added another long ball to center in the sixth to give the Mountain Lions an 8-1 lead.
Young Harris added two runs in the seventh and another in the eighth as they opened up an 11-3 lead. In the seventh, Graczyk had an RBI double while Smith added a run-scoring double in the eighth.
Mat Szabo (4-2) earned the win as he struck out four and gave up six hits over five innings, while Ryan Ashworth (4-3) took the loss.
Corley Reynolds and Ewald collected three hiots, while Gaona, Smith and Graczyk had two hits apiece.
