MONTGOMERY, Ala. ------ Senior starting pitcher Chase Johnson went the distance in shutout fashion on Friday night as the Warhawks took the first game of the two-game weekend set against #14 NAIA nationally-ranked Georgia Gwinnett College.  The final score at the AUM Baseball Complex was 10-0 in seven innings.

NOTES
• The Warhawks evened their record at 22-22.
• The Grizzlies dropped to 33-8.

STANDOUT PERFORMERS
• Johnson surrendered just five hits and punched out eight in the complete game shutout.
• Right fielder Tanner Russell had a pair of RBI hits, a single and a double, and scored a trio of times.
• Trevor Flynn had two hits including an RBI double and crossed the plate twice.
• Nathan Langley had two hits and an RBI, along with a highlight reel double play in which he caught a foul ball fading toward the visiting bullpen, and made the throw home to beat the runner tagging from third.
• Senior John-Mark Cosby stayed red-hot at the plate, singling three times and tallying an RBI.
• Donovan Chandler singled, scored a run and raised his season walk total to 40, leading the team by more than 10 in that category.  This raises the lead-off hitter's OBP to a cool .432.
• Houston Davenport singled twice and Curtiss Johnson provided an RBI single.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• What seems to be a recurring theme at home, the Warhawks kicked off the scoring in the bottom of the first in fundamental fashion.  Chandler led off the half with an opposite-field single.  Michael Tedford followed with a textbook sacrifice bunt.  Cosby came through a batter later with his first single of the game, scoring Chandler to put AUM ahead 1-0.
• Flynn singled to lead off the bottom half of the second and stole second on the first pitch of the next at bat.  On the following pitch, Langley laid down a sacrifice bunt but beat it out for a single.  Brandon Davis then hit a fly ball to right field, scoring Flynn and the Warhawks led 2-0.
• Following a 1-2-3 inning from Ch. Johnson, Russell walked with one out to get things going in the third.  With the count full, Flynn doubled to right center, scoring Russell from first.  After Langley reached on a fielding error by the pitcher, he advanced to second and Flynn scored on a wild pitch.  AUM led 4-0 through three innings.
• Cosby and Davenport kicked off the bottom of the fourth with back to back singles and Cu. Johsnon advanced them both into scoring position with a groundout.  Behind in the count 1-2, Russell singled to right field to score Cosby.  Following a pitching change and a fielder's choice, Langley singled to right as well, scoring Russell and the Warhawks led by six after four.   
• With nobody on and two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Cosby singled for the third time, this time up the middle.  Davenport followed with a single of his own.  Cu. Johnson hit the first pitch he saw up the middle, scoring Cosby.  Russell followed with an RBI double to score the second two-out run of the inning.  A fly ball down the left field line off the bat of Flynn looked like the conclusion to the two-out rally, however the ball ricocheted off the Grizzly left fielder's glove, scoring Russell and Cu. Johnson.
• Ch. Johnson allowed just one baserunner the rest of the game, and the Warhawks defeated Georgia Gwinnet, 10-0.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• The Grizzlies committed the only two errors of the run-shortened game.
• AUM stranded 11 runners on the base paths.  The Grizzlies left three runners on base.
 
UP NEXT
The Warhawks will look to take the second half of the weekend series against Georgia Gwinnett tomorrow, April 22 beginning at 2 p.m.  AUM leads the season series 2-1.