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Box Score 2 AMERICUS, Ga. – The nationally third-ranked University of South Carolina Aiken baseball team swept a Peach Belt Conference doubleheader from Georgia Southwestern on Friday at Hurricane Stadium.
USC Aiken (40-9, 23-6 PBC) claimed a 3-2 11-inning win in game one before taking a 4-3 game two victory over Georgia Southwestern (15-30, 5-21 PBC).
The doubleheader sweep of Georgia Southwestern on Friday allowed the Pacers to claim the Peach Belt Conference regular-season championship outright.
The Peach Belt Conference regular-season championship is the second for USC Aiken in the last five years. The Pacers also obtained the league regular-season title in 2009.
The Pacers have three regular-season championships in school history now as they also acquired the 1994 regular-season title. USC Aiken has two Peach Belt Conference Tournament championships (1992 and 1993) in its history.
The doubleheader sweep of Georgia Southwestern allows USC Aiken to obtain its 40thvictory of the 2013 season. USC Aiken has now picked up 40 or more wins in a season eight times (1992, 1993, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2013) since its first season in the Peach Belt Conference in 1992.
The doubleheader sweep of Georgia Southwestern on Friday also means that USC Aiken will close out the 2013 regular-season having claimed 11 of its 13 three-game series this season (Lincoln Memorial, Carson-Newman, Shepherd, Francis Marion, Flagler, Young Harris, North Georgia, Augusta State, Lander, Columbus State and Georgia Southwestern).
The Pacers have swept three-game series from Lincoln Memorial, Shepherd, Flagler, Young Harris, North Georgia, Augusta State and Lander.
USC Aiken will try and obtain the three-game sweep of Georgia Southwestern in its regular-season finale at 12 p.m. on Saturday, April 27.
Game One: #3 USC Aiken 3, Georgia Southwestern 2 (11 Innings)
The game tied at 2-2 in the top of the 11th inning, USC Aiken's Tyler Moore (Evans, Ga./Evans HS) hit his first home run of the year to give the Pacers a 3-2 advantage.
In the top-10 nationally in saves and the Peach Belt Conference leader in the category, Taylor Grover (North Augusta, S.C./Midland Valley HS) then retired the side in order in the bottom of the 11th to complete the dramatic Pacer victory. Grover, who struck out the final batter, now has 11 saves on the year.
Branden Millhouse (Summerville, S.C./USC Upstate) started off the first game by singling to center field for the Pacers. He then stole second to place himself in scoring position.
Josh Miller (Chapin, S.C./Chapin HS) took advantage of the situation by singling through the left side to score Millhouse from second base.
The Pacer 1-0 lead would last until the bottom of the sixth inning when Georgia Southwestern posted two runs to take a 2-1 advantage.
The score would remain 2-1 in favor of the Hurricanes until the top of the ninth inning. Down to their final out, Moore rapped a two-out triple to get things going for the Pacers.
Sean Miller (Crofton, Md./Archbishop Spalding HS) then singled through the left side to score Moore and tie the game at 2-2.
USC Aiken's Danny Wissmann (Arbutus, Md./Hammond HS) improved to 4-0 on the mound in the first game. Wissmann pitched two innings in relief of starter Derek Beasley (Harlem, Ga./Harlem HS), who dealt the first seven innings and struck out six.
Wissmann fanned four in his two innings on the hill.
USC Aiken utilized the services of four pitchers in total in the game with Sam Daniel (Evans, Ga./Greenbrier HS) fanning two in the eighth inning.
Georgia Southwestern reliever Bray Bishop (3-3) suffered the loss for the Hurricanes in game one. He pitched the final two innings in relief of starter Frank Ambrosino.
USC Aiken concluded game one out-hitting Georgia Southwestern, 13-12. Three different Pacers finished with three hits in the game.
The hero of game one, Moore was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI in the contest.
Sean Miller was 3-for-5 with an RBI, while Millhouse was 3-for-5 with a run scored.
USC Aiken's Bryce Baur (Moncks Corner, S.C./Florence-Darlington Tech) was 2-for-5 in the game.
Georgia Southwestern had four players with two hits each in game one.
Game Two: #3 USC Aiken 4, Georgia Southwestern 3
Millhouse once again arrived on base to start the second game as he was hit by a pitch to commence the contest. After moving over to second on a passed ball, Josh Miller advanced Millhouse to third.
Baur then grounded out to plate Millhouse for an early 1-0 Pacer lead.
Georgia Southwestern would plate one run in the bottom half of the first to tie the game at 1-1, but the Pacers would take the lead once again in the top of the fourth when Baur scored on a wild pitch. Baur had opened the top of the fourth by doubling down the left field line. Baur then stole third after he was moved over to second after Bill Gerstenslager (Solon, Ohio/Mercyhurst) was hit by a pitch.
Gerstenslager would eventually score as well to make the score 3-1 in favor of the Pacers.
USC Aiken would add one more run in the top of the sixth before Georgia Southwestern plated two runs in the bottom of the inning to pull within one run at 4-3.
The Pacers would not allow the Hurricanes to get any closer.
Georgia Southwestern out-hit the Pacers, 9-4, in game two. No Pacer was able to secure multiple hits in the game.
Randall Sheffield led the Hurricanes in their loss in game two with three hits.
USC Aiken starting pitcher Wyatt Brown (Suwanee, Ga./Middle Georgia) improved to 6-3 on the year with the victory in game two. He pitched the first six innings, fanning five.
Caleb Smith (Aiken, S.C./Coastal Carolina) pitched the ninth inning to claim his first save of the year.
Matthew Suggs suffered the loss for Georgia Southwestern. He dropped to 4-7 on the year with the loss. Suggs pitched eight innings for Georgia Southwestern in the contest.
