Tigers Split With East Ga; Clinch 3rd Place; Open Playoffs At Hord On Friday

CUTHBERT, Ga. -- The Andrew College baseball team wrapped up the regular season on Saturday at the Hord Athletic Complex, dropping the opener 9-8 against East Ga. State, before righting the ship, and taking the nightcap 11-5, thereby, securing 3rd place in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) standings, and will now host the 1st round playoff game, a nine inning elimination game on Friday, first pitch at 2:00 pm.

In game one, catcher Barron Northorp went 2 for 4 with a run scored and 2 RBI, Jonathan Manibusan and JT Whatley each had a pair of hits and solo home runs, and Griffin Long went 2 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI, but Andrew could not hold a four run lead, and fell 9-8.

Up 5-4 going into the bottom of the 6th inning, and looking for any kind of insurance run, Long led off the inning with a single, then Manibusan uncorked a 2-run drive to give the Tigers some breathing room, and they added on three more runs for the 11-5 final score. Colby Fields picked up his 5th win of the year and Logan Seehafer had a huge strikeout with the bases loaded in the 6th inning, and went on to earn his 1st career save.  Jacob Pierce went 3 for 4 with a double, 2 runs scored and an RBI, Whatley had 3 hits, including 2 doubles, and scored twice, Long was 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored and a solo homer, Brayden Eavenson singled in a pair of runs and stole a base, Blake Falor scored twice and singled in a run, Peyton Adams doubled in a run, and Jake Edwards also singled in a run, as the Tigers pounded out 14 hits.

The Tigers return to the GCAA Baseball playoffs for the first time since 2017 with the Friday game at Hord. With a win on Friday, Andrew will travel to Barnesville, GA to take on #2 seed Gordon State on Sunday. The playoffs will continue as a double elimination tournament from there, with the winner hosting the NJCAA East Central District playoffs in mid-May.