Week Preview: The No. 13 University of North Georgia baseball team returns home for a weekend showdown with No. 6 Tampa to kick off the final homestand of the 2019 regular season.
Probable Starters (Based on previous outings): Thursday - Keven Pimentel vs. Daniel McCrary; Friday - Mason Duke vs. Steven Bower; Saturday - James Reynolds vs. Derrick Pickvet; Tuesday - Tyler Garner vs. Kyle Luigs.
Rankings: North Georgia is No. 13 in the latest Collegiate Baseball Poll released Monday, up one spot from last week. Other teams in the Southeast Region that are ranked are No. 2 North Greenville, No. 9 Newberry, No. 12 Catawba, No. 22 Mount Olive and No. 30 Lincoln Memorial. The Nighthawks also came in at No. 16 on the NCBWA poll Tuesday.
Nighthawks on the Web: Available links can be found above and on the baseball schedule page and above. Fans can also follow the action through Twitter by following the baseball team (@UNGBaseball).
Last Week: North Georgia went 3-1 last week, beating AUM before taking the first two games of the PBC series against UNC Pembroke.
Scouting Tampa: Tampa is 27-11 on the season and is ranked a consensus No. 6 in the Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA polls released this week. The Spartans were ranked the No. 1 team in the nation for a number of weeks before getting swept by Embry-Riddle two weeks ago. UNG and Tampa have never met in the two program's histories.
Scouting West Georgia: West Georgia is 22-19 with four games to play prior to coming to Dahlonega. UNG needed 14 innings to get past the Wolves earlier this year, winning 6-3 back in February.
PBC Stats and Standings: Chase Sudduth has the sixth best batting average in the league, hitting .374 on the season. Crews Taylor has reached base in 38 straight games this year. Conner Corbitt is tied for second in the league in homers with 11. Parker Morrison is tied for second in the league in ERA at 2.25, tied for sixth in the conference in strikeouts with 65 and is second in the PBC in saves with seven. Steven Bower is tied for second in the PBC in wins with seven, while Derrick Pickvet is tied for sixth with six. The UNG pitching staff has the lowest ERA at 3.96 while giving up the least number of walks this season and the fewest runs. North Georgia is currently tied with Flagler heading into the weekend for the top spot in the PBC standings.. UNG has clinched a spot in the PBC tournament by virtue of holding the tiebreaker over all three teams currently out of the tournament picture.
