Jaguar baseball team drops slugfest to West Georgia
By Chris Rickerson | Sports editor
Augusta University’s baseball team lost in a high scoring 12-9 affair to West Georgia on Wednesday, Feb. 23, at Jaguar Field.
The Jaguars had played the Wolves back on Feb. 15, when AU won 6-3. This was the last regular-season matchup between these two teams.
Left-handed pitcher Dominique Canale started on the mound for the Jaguars against right-hander Nick Morgan for the Wolves.
Two errors in the first inning by the Jaguars would put the wolves ahead early 1-0. West Georgia scored another run in the third inning with RBI fielder’s choice by Sam Ladner, scoring Collin Moore.
Pat Galvin brought in the Jaguars’ first run in the bottom of the third inning with an RBI double, making the score 2-1.
The Wolves extended their lead to 5-1 in the fourth inning with four hits, bringing in three runs. Moore and Jonathan Logsdon both brought in run with an RBI double each.
AU came back and tied the game in the bottom of the fourth inning at 5-5. Kyle LaRoche singled to bring in Walker Sinclair in the inning, and Harrison Aulds hit a two RBI double to tie the game, bringing in both LaRoche and Skylor Murphy.
With three walks by relief pitcher Brian Trepanier in the sixth inning, the Jaguars brought in Alex Brown to try and hold the runners on base with two outs. Ladner took Brown deep for a grand slam, putting the Wolves ahead 9-5.
While the Wolves would add one more run in the top of the eighth inning, Mason Robertson brought the Jaguars back in the game with a grand slam in the bottom half of the inning to make the score 10-9.
In the top of the ninth inning, with a one run lead, West Georgia added two more runs to push away late in the game. Ronnie Piepmeier shutdown the Jaguars in the bottom of the ninth, walking away with the save for the Wolves.
Ladner led the Wolves with five RBIs. Reliver Austin Wright got the win for West Georgia, pitching two innings with three strikeouts and giving up no hits or runs.
Canale got the loss for the Jaguars, finishing with three strikeouts and giving up four earned runs and five hits. Galvin led the Jaguars with a 4-for-5 day at the plate and one RBI. Robertson finished with two hits and four RBIs on his day for AU.
The Jaguars (5-7) next game will be on the road against Coker University (2-10) on Wednesday, March 2, at 2 p.m.
Contact Chris Rickerson at crickerson@augusta.edu.
Augusta’s Mason Robertson (2) rounds third to score on a day when he had two hits, including a grand slam. At the top of the page, Pat Galvin (3) shows his form at the plate; he went 4-for-5 with one RBI against West Georgia. (photos by Chris Rickerson)
