DAHLONEGA | After falling behind 4-0 in just the third inning, the 15th-ranked University of North Georgia baseball team came back to beat Kentucky Wesleyan, 5-4, Friday afternoon in the series opener at Bob Stein Stadium. The Nighthawks improve to 5-1 on the young season while the Panthers move to 3-1, suffering their first loss of the season.
 
The Panthers wasted no time getting on the board as two-hole hitter Troy Paris made the Nighthawks pay for a leadoff walk, sending a ball over the wall in left center to give KWC the early lead, 2-0.
 
Wesleyan padded their lead in the third with a pair of RBI hits to take the 4-0 advantage over UNG, chasing Brandon Agar from the game. The Panthers would not score again though as Blake Gaubert was dominant in relief, striking out 12 in 5.2 innings of one-hit shutout ball.
 
Trevor Sams provided a spark for North Georgia in the home half of the fourth with a double to center. The centerfielder muffed the ball coming off the wall allowing Sam Tidaback to come into score and put the Nighthawks on the board.
 
Sams come up big the next inning with a two-run double to right to score Tidaback and Connor Hoover, making it a one-run game.
 
UNG would tie it in the seventh as Devin Gearhart just avoided grounding into what would have been the third double play of the day for KWC, staying alive on the fielder's choice to first, allowing Steven Tomlinson to come in to score.
 
Ryan Tomita provided the game-winning hit in the bottom of the eighth as his double to shallow right would bring in Sams to give UNG the 5-4 lead that proved final.
 
NOTES
- Avery Greer picked up his second save of the season, sitting down the Panthers in order in the ninth, with a pair of strikeouts.
 
- Blake Gaubert's 12 strikeouts is a career high for the redshirt-junior.
 
- The come-from-behind win is the fourth for North Georgia this season.
 
- Trevor Sams' three doubles ties the UNG record for doubles in a single game, the feat had been accomplished nine times since baseball was reinstated in 2000.
 
STAT OF THE DAY
16 – The number of combined strikeouts on the day for the North Georgia pitching staff.
 
NEXT UP
North Georgia will look to win the series tomorrow in game two of the three-game set, starting at 2 p.m.