The Georgia Gwinnett College baseball won the NAIA World Series with an 8-4 victory over Central Methodist University on Thursday.
Georgia Gwinnett College (51-10) entered as the No. 5 seed, but swept all five World Series games, outscoring opponents 52-30. The Grizzlies hit nine home runs en route to the championship.
“This has been the most resilient and toughest team, mentally, that I have been associated with,” head coach Jeremy Sheetinger said. “I had a front row seat to watch the best college baseball team in the country play.”
Georgia Gwinnett jumped out to an 8-0 lead with a home run by J.D. Stubbs, an RBI double by Chase Evans, RBI singles by Kyle Harvey, Cord Johnson and Gabe Howell and a two-run double by Nick Barnes.
Hunter Dollander earned the win as the right-hander struck out nine and scattered five hits across seven innings. Dollander (12-1) was named the World Series’ Most Valuable Player.
“It is surreal to end my career as a national champion, Dollander said. “Everybody trusted me to get the job done. I just wanted to go out and compete to give my team a chance. Having early run support helped ease the nerves and settle into the game. I was able to spot my fastball anywhere I wanted. That allowed me to throw my breaking ball off the same (motion) locations.”
Livingston Morris, Austin Bates, Harvey and Dollander were named to the all-tournament team. Bates earned the Charles Berry Hustle Award and Howell took home the Gold Glove award.
GGC won 22 of its last 23 games of the season and entered postseason play ranked No. 6 in the final poll of the regular season.
Georgia Gwinnett College’s Office of Athletics has now won 14 NAIA national championship, including the third during the 2021 spring athletic season. The college’s men’s and women’s tennis teams won national titles in May.
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