PEMBROKE, N.C. — The top-ranked University of North Georgia baseball team was not able to climb out of a late hole after giving up seven runs in the sixth and seventh innings, falling to UNC Pembroke, 10-6, Friday evening at Sammy Cox Field. The Nighthawks slip to 21-5 on the year with an 8-2 mark in the Peach Belt Conference. The game snaps UNG's 11-game winning streak.
UNG got off to a promising start in the top of the first with a leadoff single by
Devin Gearhart followed by a double to left center by
Connor Hoover that put runners at second and third with no one out. After a fly out,
Trevor Sams brought Gearhart home with a sacrifice fly to right, but Hoover would be thrown out trying to advance to third on the play to end the inning.
The next six frames went scoreless until the Braves got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with a two-out three run homer to left off the bat of Jarratt Mobley. The Nighthawks got one of the runs back in the top of the fifth with a RBI double to right by
Conner Corbitt.
UNCP would break the game wide open in the sixth though with a solo homer, a three-run shot, and an unearned run coming in gave the Braves an 8-2 advantage with the five-run inning. Pembroke went on to add a pair of runs in the seventh to extend their lead to 10-2.
The Nighthawks refused to go quietly as they eventually got the potential game-tying run to the plate after a three-run homerun to right by
Joshua Peterson and three walks gave UNG a fighting chance, but the unlikely comeback wasn't meant to be.
NOTES
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Steven Bower (5-2) was tagged with the loss, allowing four runs on four hits with three walks and five strikeouts in his five innings pitched.
- The game continues a frustrating trend for North Georgia playing at UNC Pembroke. UNG is 2-8 in their last 10 games at Sammy Cox Field. However, in the first eight games played in Pembroke in the all-time series, UNG held a 7-1 advantage.
- It is the second-time UNG has dropped a PBC series opener this season, after losing the first game of the Lander series to kickoff league play this year. The Nighthawks rebounded nicely from that loss outscoring the Bearcats 11-2 in the next two games to take the series and sparked the 11-game winning streak that was snapped tonight.
NEXT UP
The Nighthawk will look to even the series tomorrow in game two, which is set for a 2 p.m. start.