Sonoraville alum Wilson earns win in first career start for GHC
From GHC reports
Georgia Highlands rolled to a 10-3 victory in the first game of a doubleheader to win the first series of the season against Chattanooga State at LakePoint on Saturday.
Chattanooga State, who entered the season ranked as high as 16th in the nation according to Collegiate Baseball Magazine, surrendered four early runs, highlighted by a solo home run by Nick Fink, and the Tigers were unable to get anything going off of Highlands starter and former Sonoraville High standout Drew Wilson.
Wilson, making his first collegiate appearance, was dominant through four innings, striking out four batters while walking just one. In the fifth however, the Tigers got to Wilson, loading the bases with no one out. Charger skipper Dash O’Neill brought righthander Tyler Sellers on in relief, but Sellers struggled to find his command, and the Tigers scored three runs before a sensational play by center fielder Devin Bilardello to double off a man at first base ended the inning.
With the score 4-3, the Chargers answered quickly in their half of the fifth inning. Bronco O’Brien reached base on a Tiger error to start the inning, then stole second base and advanced to third when the ball got away from Chatt State’s second baseman. Grant Bodison then singled in O’Brien, stole second base, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. After Brandon Bell coaxed a walk, Nick Piccapietra slapped a double into right field, and Bell scored on a balk to put the Chargers ahead 7-3 after five.
A three-run homer by Grant Bodison, his second in as many games, would stretch the lead to 10 while Sean Fitzpatrick and David Hussey silenced Chatt State’s bats the rest of the way.
In Game 2 of the doubleheader, the high scor- ing offenses were put to bed as Charger starter Sam Sowerbrower and Chatt State righty Andy Rivera would lock up in a pitcher’s duel. Both pitchers were electric for five innings with neither allowing a run, but Sowerbrower would blink first, allowing two earned runs in the sixth before being replaced by Jake Lovvorn who quickly ended the threat.
The Chargers answered back quickly, scoring a run in their half of the sixth on an RBI single off the Bat of Bronco O’Brien and loading the bases, but Nick Piccapietra grounded out to second base to end the inning. After Rivera struck out the first two Highlands batters in the seventh, Devin Bilardello lined a single into center field and stole second base to get into scoring position, but the Chargers couldn’t get him across and fell 2-1 in the ballgame.
Despite the loss in game two, Georgia Highlands took the opening series of the season off Chattanooga State, and Dash O’Neill was pleased with the way his team performed.
“It’s always tough to lose a close ballgame like that, especially when you feel like you have opportunities to win, but that’s a heck of a team over there, so to win the series is huge for us. I think our guys played hard and we got to see some things we need to work on, so we’ll use this to build off of and just keep trying to get better each week.”
The Chargers are now 2-1 on the season as they welcome No. 13 in the NJCAA Walters State next Saturday and Sunday for a three game series at LakePoint. First pitch on Saturday is 2 p.m. while Sunday’s game starts at 1 p.m.