Falcons drop conference series

Published 1:04 pm Monday, March 26, 2012

FROM STAFF REPORTS

The University of Montevallo baseball team dropped a game and the series to Georgia College and State University following a 17-15 loss in the final game of a Peach Belt Conference series March 25.

The game featured 44 hits and 32 runs. Eight of the Falcons’ nine starters had at least two hits in the game, while four had three or more.

Freshman Vinny Rodriguez and sophomore Alec Stiver led the Falcons (16-16 overall, 10-8 in Peach Belt Conference) with four hits each. Rodriguez was 4-for-5 with two RBIs, a double, a walk and a run scored. Stiver was 4-for-6 with three RBIs.

Sophomore Will Fulmer was 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and three runs scored, while freshman Zack Willoughby was 3-for-6 with four runs scored and a walk.

Junior Vincente Andrews, senior Heath Peterson, as well as senior Chris Ross and junior Austin Dubberly, a pair of Pelham High School graduates, all had a pair of hits. Dubberly and Peterson added three RBIs each.

On the mound, junior Kameron Heiser got the start, going 3.1 innings with five strikeouts and three walks. He gave up eight hits and seven runs. UM used five different pitchers in relief while senior Drew Boyer took home the loss pitching 0.2 of an inning. He gave up four hits but just one was earned as his record fell to 1-2 on the season.

UM gave up a pair of runs in the first but battled back in the second with five runs. The Bobcats took back the lead in the fourth after scoring runs in the second and third. GC plated four runs in the top of the fourth to take an 8-6 lead. UM responded again in the bottom of the fourth with five runs but again it would not hold as the Bobcats scored four more runs in the fifth to take a 12-11 lead.

GC scored a run in the sixth and four more in the seventh to take a commanding 17-11 lead. UM tried to come back in the seventh with a pair of runs and two more in the eighth but the Falcons were unable to plate any in the ninth as they fell, 17-15.