TIFTON — Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College baseball headed back to the drawing board to figure out a way to win over South Georgia State.
The Golden Stallions dropped their second in a row to SGSC Thursday night, 9-8. A Saturday doubleheader that begins a 1 p.m. will provide more chances to win over the Hawks.
South Georgia State scored six over the final three frames, including three in the top of the 9th after the Stallions took a 8-6 lead the inning before.
The 9th inning runs came courtesy of but a single hit. Trey Jeffers, Kyle Shivers and Luke Boone filled the bases with a single out, Shivers with the hit between two walks.
ABAC nearly got out of the jam with no damage when Terry Garmon got a foul pop to C.J. Rose at first for the second out. But the lead began eroding with a walk to Luke Flading that scored Jeffers.
Garmon went 3-0 on Gavin Mask and ABAC interim head coach Brooks Calvo made a mid-batter switch to Tyson Robinson. The next pitch was also a ball and the game was tied at 8-8. A balk then brought in Boone, putting the Hawks ahead before a grounder shortstop ended the inning.
Nathan Webb recorded two quick strikeouts in the bottom of the 9th, then the Stallions briefly caught a break when a dropped pop-up put Cameron Campbell aboard. Wade shook that off, however, and struck out his last man.
ABAC had leads of 3-1, 6-3 and 8-6 in Thursday’s game, the visitors coming back to tie or lead in all three cases.
A one-out walk to Quinten Rawls set up the first run, coming on an RBI single by Matthew Glass in the bottom of the 1st. One canto later, the Golden Stallions doubled that, Kenton Collier driving in Joe Cooney from third on a two-out dribbler between first and second.
Jeffers got the Hawks on the board in the 3rd on a two-out delayed double steal. Shivers took off from first when Jeffers was at third, eventually caught in a rundown but not before Jeffers touched home.
The Stallions got the run back in the 4th, a two-out rally begun on a double by John Monnin. Collier hit an infield grounder that resulted in an error, allowing Monnin to come around an score.
SGSC evened the score in the 5th, on back-to-back hits by Jeffers and Colton Whaley, the former brining in C.J. Chalk.
ABAC went ahead by three in the 6th, a frame that saw them send eight men to the plate.
Cooney, Monnin and Collier filled up the bases with one down. A Rawls single made the score 4-3 and Rose added another run on an RBI groundout to second. Drew Rothschild singled to right to drive in Collier.
The Hawks countered with three in the 7th, the big blow a two-run double by Shivers. Boone knotted the score at 6-6 on a sac fly.
Rawls put the Stallions ahead in the 8th on an error. Rothschild hit an infield grounder and, in their haste to try to get Rawls at third, the Hawks threw wild, allowing him to get out from under the third baseman that landed on him and score. Glass doubled in Rothschild for the second run.
ABAC had 12 hits for the game, two each for Collier, Rawls, Rose, Rothschild and Glass. Glass drove in two runs.
Trypp Lumpkin pitched 6.1 innings for the Golden Stallions, allowing five earned runs, but striking out six. SGSC used six pitchers on the night, Mask throwing five innings.