COLUMBUS, Ga. – Thomas University's baseball team was swept this afternoon by No. 6 Georgia Gwinnett (33-6) in its neutral site doubleheader held at Golden Park, the former home of the Columbus Catfish of MILB.  The Night Hawks (15-19-1, 7-10 TSC) were blanked in the first contest, 11-0, and fell late to Grizzlies in game two after tying the game in the fifth inning to lose game two 12-4.

In their game one loss, the Night Hawks only managed three hits.  The Grizzlies owned the game in their 11-0 victory.  GGW's starter, Ryan Minteer, pitched four shutout innings surrendering just two hits.  Through some help of his defense and the arm of his catcher gunning down Night Hawks attempting to steal bases, Minteer set down all 12 batters he faced in the game, striking out one.  TU's Monte Reese was credited with the loss for surrendering the game's first two runs in the bottom of the second.  The Grizzlies racked up nine more runs off Thomas' two relievers, Tyler Leach and AJ Spiegle, en route to the shutout victory.
 
The nightcap witnessed an early offensive push by Georgia Gwinnett that was met with a Night Hawk opposition in the bottom of the first.  The Grizzlies opened the game with a 2-0 advantage in the top of the first.  Thomas responded with a rally to tie the game at 2-2 in the bottom frame.  Senior shortstop Jake Desuyo led the inning off with a single.  He advanced to third when center fielder Jalbert Melo hit the third pitch he saw down the left field line for a double.  On the next pitch by GGW's starter Joseph Boatright, designated hitter Kaleb Holbrook laced a single to shallow right to plate Desuyo from third.  Trailing 2-1, catcher Zach Tutak grounded into a double-play that drove in Melo to tie the game.
 
The Grizzlies regained the temporary 4-2 lead in the top of the second before the Night Hawks evened the score at 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth.  Early in the inning, JR Cruess reached on a five-pitch walk.  Cruess would score when Desuyo lifted a double to deep left to cut the advantage to 4-3.  Melo would move Desuyo into scoring position with a grounder to first.  With two outs in the inning, relief pitcher Heath Durand launched a wild pitch over the catcher to the backstop allowing Desuyo to score from third to tie the game.  This run would be Thomas' last as Georgia Gwinnett went on to score eight unanswered runs, four in the sixth and four in the seventh, to take the 12-4 victory and series sweep.
 
Reliever Codey Conway suffered game two's loss while GGW's Andy Threatt picked up the win.

Desuyo and Holbrook led the way for the Night Hawks in their two loses.  Desuyo went 2-for-6 on the day driving in one of TU's four runs on the day.  In his two games, Holbrook went 2-for-4, plating Thomas' only other RBI of the games.

"We just weren't effective today," stated head coach Mike Lee.  "We had several opportunities to score runs and hold them to scoreless innings; however, the end result didn't reflect it.  Kris Lee did a great job with his three innings of shutout pitching.  We now just need to buckle down and prep for the rest of our conference schedule down the stretch over these next few weeks."
 
The Night Hawks return to action on Thurs., April 2 when they to travel to Ave Maria, Fla., to face Sun Conference rival Ave Maria University in a three game series.  First pitch of day one's doubleheader is set for 12:00 p.m. with game two starting 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one.  The series finale will take place on Sat., April 4 starting at noon.
 
For up-to-date information on these game and other TU Athletics, visit www.TUNightHawks.com.  Stay up-to-date with news, scores, photos, game summaries, and feature stories of your TU baseball team by following them via Twitter at @NightHawkBaseba.