PALATKA, Fla. - Home runs were aplenty for the University of North Georgia baseball team, but the Nighthawks fell to No. 6 Georgia College in 11 innings to end UNG's run in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament Saturday. Earlier in the day, the Nighthawks beat Lander, 11-4.
GAME ONE - UNG 11, Lander 4
The Bearcats opened up the scoring in the top half of the first, with Nathan Schreckengost blasting a three-run homer over the right field wall to give Lander a 3-0 lead through a half inning.
North Georgia answered in the bottom of the second with a three-run bomb from
Jake Arnold to tie the game before
Bill LeRoy gave UNG the lead on a two-RBI single down the right field line in the third. In the fourth, the homers continued when
Crews Taylor smashed one over the wall in left to give the Nighthawks a 7-3 lead.
LeRoy kept the hot bats alive, knocking a solo shot over the left field fence in the fifth to extend the lead to five before Lander finally responded with an Alex Conaway solo homer to cut the score to 8-4 through the top of the sixth.
The Nighthawks answered again in the bottom of the sixth as Arnold hit his second homer of the game to make it 9-4 before a RBI single by
Conner Corbitt to give UNG a 10-4 lead before LeRoy singled in the eighth to score
Andres Perez and give the Nighthawks the win.
Derrick PIckvet (4-5) earned the win after throwing six innings, striking out two along the way.
GAME TWO - No. 6 Georgia College 7, UNG 6 (11 innings)
Perez got things started in the third with his 22nd homer of the year, a three-run bomb to deep center to take a 3-0 lead. UNG kept the inning going as
Nick Clarno singled up the middle to give North Georgia a 4-0 lead.
The Bobcats answered in the fifth inning, scoring five runs on five hits to take a 5-4 lead. Georgia College doubled its lead in the seventh inning on a RBI groundout before UNG scored late.
Perez hit his second homer of the game in the eighth, a two-run bomb to right center to tie the game. After neither team could score in the ninth, the game went to extra innings where the Nighthawks loaded the bases in the 11th inning with one out. The Bobcats got out of the inning with back-to-back strikeouts and won the game with a Matthew Miller single.
NOTES
-
Parker Morrison struck out 11 batters on the day in 7.2 innings out of the bullpen in the two games combined.
- Perez finished the season with 23 homers, a new single season record. He also finished with 68 RBI on the year.
- North Georgia hit six home runs Saturday, two by Perez and two by Arnold.
- In other Pool A action today, UNC Pembroke defeated Lander, 12-2, to set up a winner-take-all game between the Bobcats and the Braves in the nightcap.
- North Georgia finishes the season at 31-22, marking the fourth year in a row that UNG has had 30 or more wins.
