March 25, 2008

Rome, Ga. - In an afternoon doubleheader against nationally-ranked #9 Tennessee Wesleyan College, the Shorter College Hawks baseball team lost the first game 3-2 and the second game 5-4.

In the first game, five errors proved costly for the Hawks, as two of the three runs that the Bulldogs scored were unearned. After Tennessee Wesleyan went up 1-0 after the top of the first, Shorter's Trevor Miller hit an RBI single scoring Brandon Ponder to tie the game.

Both teams traded runs again in the third inning. A sacrifice fly from Shannon Houston made the game 2-2 and neither team would put a run on the board until top of the seventh. Two costly errors gave Tennessee Wesleyan the winning run to take the game 3-2.

Miller was 2-for-3 in the game with a triple and an RBI single.

Shorter's JP Griffin (3-3) picked up the loss for Shorter in relief, while Tennessee Wesleyan's John Swartout got the win. Trey Carnes started the game for the Hawks, giving up one hit in 5.2 innings pitched.

In the second game, Tennessee Wesleyan scored three runs in their first turn at the bat, but the Hawks hacked away at their deficit. In the bottom of the first, a Miller walk scored Ponder, and in the bottom of the third, a Miller RBI single scored Houston, to make the game 3-2.

Shorter took their first lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. A Ross Ballard RBI double and a Dustan Cantrell RBI single gave the Hawks the 4-3 advantage. Tennessee Wesleyan came back in the sixth and seventh with two more runs, to end the game 5-4.

Ponder, Cantrell, Mark Charrette, Houston and Gustavo Bonilla each had two hits in the game.

The losing pitcher for Shorter was Heath Matthews (1-1) and the winning pitcher was Sammy Phillips.

Shorter continues play at home this weekend against conference foe Lee University, with a single nine-inning game on Friday followed by a doubleheader on Saturday.