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Hawks will battle Auburn-Montgomery in SSAC Tourney first round
ATLANTA -- The Shorter University baseball team will take on longtime Southern States Athletic Conference rival Auburn University-Montgomery in the first round of the SSAC Tournament at Golden Park in Columbus, Ga.
The Hawks (38-16) earned the No. 4 seed out of the SSAC East Division with a sweep of Southern Wesleyan in South Carolina over the weekend and will square off with the Senators (40-15), who coasted to the No. 1 seed in the West Division with a 16-2 conference mark, at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 29.
Shorter's 38 wins are the most since head coach Mike Sansing led the Hawks to a 39-13 record. That team won the GIAC Conference championship.
The Hawks are led offensively by junior Cody Hooper and senior Matt Johnson. Hooper enters the SSAC Tournament batting .337 with team-high 19 doubles and nine home runs. Hooper has driven in 39 runs.
Johnson, the SSAC's leading hitter in 2010, saw an increase in his power numbers in 2011. Johnson is batting .314 heading into the tournament with five homers and a team-best 42 RBI. His 16 doubles rank second on the team.
On the mound, Shorter has gotten consistent performances from ace Brick Carter.
The senior finished the regular season 6-2 with a 2.40 ERA. Carter ranks third in the SSAC with 88 strikeouts in 82.1 innings and has walked just 23 batters.
