Ethan Pringle, Staff Writer
The Armstrong Pirate’ baseball team celebrated its seniors over the weekend while hosting Peach Belt Conference opponent Georgia College. The Pirates ended up losing all three contests to the Bobcats in a rematch from the 2015 PBC Tournament Championship Game.
Before the game Saturday, April 16, Senior Day festivities honored the 13 seniors in a special pre-game ceremony: Jamie Thaggard, Cody Kremer, Kendrick Thompson, Tyler Graham, Will Austin, JT Phillips, Jerad Curry, Corey Kafka, Justin Adkins, Corey Crunk, Tyler Green, Berry Aldridge, and Cody Sherlin.
The Georgia College Bobcats ambushed the Pirates early, scoring a quick five runs in the top of the first inning. The Pirates would respond an inning later, scoring three runs in the bottom of the second inning to cut the Bobcat lead to two.
Armstrong then took the lead in the bottom of the third with another three runs, capped by a Ryan Patterson two-run single.
Georgia College re-tied the game in the fourth and took the lead again in the sixth inning. The Pirates attempted to stage a late-game comeback in the ninth inning, scoring two, but fell short despite the two-run triple roped by Chandler Corley. Corley finished the day 2-for-5 at the plate with two runs and two RBI. JT Phillips went 3-for-5.
Pirate Field staged an afternoon double-header between the two teams on Sunday. In the first game, the Bobcats scored three runs in the ninth inning to stun the Pirates late, 6-5. In the second, the Pirates would fall 8-3.
Armstrong got up 4-0 early in game one, thanks to a three-run fourth inning. Chandler Corley led the rally with an RBI double while Jerad Curry tacked on another run with a sac fly in the fifth.
The Bobcats pushed back in the sixth and seventh, cutting the Pirate lead to one. However, Curry would come through again in response with an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh.
In the top of the ninth inning, the Pirates were one out away from securing the win, but Dylan Cook blasted a two-run home run to tie the score, then Matthew Miller notched an RBI double to seal the final score.
In game two, the Pirates snapped a 1-1 tie in the third inning on a two-run single by Zack Goble to take a 3-1 lead, but the Bobcats scored a run in the fourth and then took the lead for good with a four-run seventh inning.
Curry went 3 for 3 with a solo home run for the Pirates in game two, while Goble went 2 for 3 with two RBIs. The Pirates fell to 15-26 overall with a 6-21 conference mark and will close out PBC play with a road series against Columbus State beginning Saturday, April 23.
