GCSU baseball enjoyed an action-packed home opener by beating Eckerd College last Friday at John Kurtz Field in Milledgeville, followed by doubleheader wins against the Tritons on Saturday.
The Bobcats dominated Friday’s game with a 14-3 victory, then racked up wins of 12-4 and 11-4 in back-to-back games that started at noon on Saturday.
The recent competition with Eckerd College marks GCSU Baseball’s first home appearance since winning the 2024 Peach Belt Conference Tournament Championship. With the weekend’s victory, the Bobcats have an overall record of 3-4 so far this season.
“It was much better collectively from an offensive standpoint,” Bobcats head coach Nolan Belcher said of his team’s performance after the opening-night victory, alluding to GCSU being outscored 29-15 overall through the season’s first four games. “I think we hit the fastball a little bit better than in the first four games.”
Game one of the series against Eckerd opened with a scoreless three innings. Eckerd was the first to add a run to the board after scoring on a wild pitch in the top of the fourth.
The Bobcats responded with their first point in the bottom of the fifth when infielder Ben Hamacher scored from third base on a double hit by fellow junior Carson Phillips. Shortly after, senior Matthew Mebane scored the home team’s second run of the inning.
Freshman catcher Caleb Miele added an unearned run for the Bobcats in the sixth inning.
Eckerd responded with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game 3-3, but by the end of the inning the Bobcats held a 5-3 lead after Phillips scored again, followed by a run from junior outfielder Evan Cowan.
To start the bottom of a nine-run eighth inning for the Bobcats, Mebane pounded a homer that also sent Phillips and sophomore Braeden Smith home for scores.
With the bases loaded, Miele next hit a double that allowed Gabe Wuerth, Hank Noonan, and Cowan to score, followed by Miele making it home off a single by Hamacher.
Phillips then hit a sacrifice flyball to score JD Coleman and advance Hamacher to third, followed by Mebane getting a hit that sent Hamacher home to finish the scoring at 14-3.
Despite what he called a “slow start,” Belcher said he was happy with the Bobcats’ ability to bounce back and win the game.
“[The team] started a little slow offensively, but they kept battling,” Belcher said. “We’d love to score a little bit sooner, and we don’t want to make a habit of [slower starts], but I’m very proud of them, and they did a good job of continuing to battle.”
During Saturday’s first game, GCSU scored its first two points in the third inning when junior infielder Wuerth scored from third base and Miele scored from second base. They later took the lead in the fourth by adding two more points and added eight points within the seventh and eighth innings.
The second game started with a bang, as the Bobcats posted five runs in the first inning with scores from Smith, Hamacher, Phillips, Mebane, and an unearned run from junior outfielder Cowan. GCSU then scored one point in the sixth inning and their final five runs in the seventh.
Following Saturday afternoon’s doubleheader, Belcher said he believes his players responded well to the opposition’s mistakes.
“I think the biggest difference on Saturday [was that] we were a little better at when they did make mistakes or when they gave us some opportunities,” Belcher said. “We did a better job of capitalizing on those [mistakes] on Saturday relative to Friday, or even some previous games that we played this year.”
Overall, Belcher said he believes his team has dramatically improved since its opening weekend and looks forward to watching the players progress throughout the season. However, he identified pitching as a specific area that needs work.
“We’ve got to find a few guys that can step up on the mound,” Belcher said. “I know they will. We just don’t know which ones yet.”
The Bobcats’ next home stand begins this Friday with a doubleheader at noon and 3 p.m. against Lynn University, followed by a third game at John Kurtz Field at 2 p.m. Saturday.