ROME, GA - The Shorter Hawks continued their homestand against Christian Brothers University on Friday with a doubleheader. The Hawks took both games in the doubleheader, taking the series lead 2-0 against the Buccaneers. In a dominant first game, Shorter won a 10-3, and in the second game, the Hawks won a hard-fought game 5-4.
 
Shorter improved to 18-8 overall and 15-8 in GSC play on the weekend. CBU fell to 2-21 overall and 2-20 in GSC play on the weekend.
 
Game 1: The Hawks will go behind senior arm Jonathan Pintaro, who picked up his seventh win of the season. Both offenses were pretty quiet throughout the first six innings. The Hawks struck first in the bottom of the second, with Corey Mason hitting an RBI double, scoring Matt Christian. This gave Pintaro a little breathing room, which is all he needed. Luis Acevedo put pressure on the defense, by causing an error that allowed Nathaniel Butterworth to score. Christian continued to have a strong day, with an RBI single, giving the Hawks a 3-0 lead. The Bucs found their first run of the game, J.D. Goodspeed had an RBI double. The Hawks quickly answered back with a huge eighth inning; Christian drew a walk which scored a run, followed by a two-RBI single from Mason, scoring Acevedo and Justin Guyton. The Hawks took advantage of the basepaths, advancing on passed balls which allowed Christian to score. Justin Barnes came up with a big hit, having a two-RBI single to right field, scoring Mason and Don Frayer. The Hawks' final run came from an RBI single from Guyton. The Bucs scrapped across two more runs in the top of the ninth as Will Turner hit a two-run shot to right field.
Pintaro had a dominant performance, only giving up one hit, one walk, and 15 strikeouts through seven innings.
 
Game 2: Senior, Taylor Boisclair, started on the mound for the Hawks in the second game of the doubleheader. The Hawks wasted no time opening up the game; Acevedo had a sacrifice fly to score Barnes to give the Hawks an early lead. The Bucs came out strong in game two, showing off their power, as Payne Smith hit a two-run shot to give them their first lead of the series. The Bucs continued to build their lead in the top of the fifth, as Goodspeed hit an RBI single to center. Reid Voss helped the Bucs cause as he hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Goodspeed. The Hawks answered back in the bottom of the fifth, as Christian continued to have a great day with a two-run shot to right field. The Hawks were trying to find a way to tie the game up, as Acevedo put the pressure on the Bucs defense again, causing an error that allowed Christian to score, tying the game in the bottom of the seventh.
The Hawks went into the bottom of the ninth, needing one run to walk it off. Kaleeq Brannigan started it up by reaching base on a hard-hit error; he was then pinched run by Don Frayer. Coach Wes Timmons made the call for Acevedo to bunt and Frayer to steal. Acevedo put the perfect sacrifice bunt down the third baseline, which allowed Frayer to move from first to third as he slid in to beat the tag. The Bucs responded by walking both Butterworth and Mason to load the bases with one out to bring up Jakob Woods. Woods smoked a ball into the six-hole, which gave the Bucs defense no chance to turn a double play and gave the Hawks a walk-off win. Carson Cook picked up his third win of the season as he came in and pitched a dominant 4.2 innings for the Hawks.
The Hawks will look to continue their winning ways tomorrow, as they have a single game. The First pitch will be at noon.