DAHLONEGA - Sophomore Andrews Opata put together an outstanding outing at the plate Saturday, hitting two homers to help lead the University of North Georgia baseball team to a 12-4 win over Mars Hill on Saturday afternoon at Bob Stein Stadium at Lynn Cottrell Park.

Senior Wes Lott (1-0) was credited with the win for North Georgia (2-0). The right-hander went four shutout innings, giving up four hits, two walks and striking out seven. Sophomore Jaret Bales also pitched well, going two and a third shutout innings while allowing one hit, walking two and striking out two.

Opata went 2-for-5 at the plate, supplementing his two home runs with five RBIs. Sophomore Brady Skipper went 1-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs along with one walk. Junior Jorge Arispuro pitched in going 1-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs.

Noah Darden was the hot bat of the day with a team-best 3-for-4 performance that included three doubles. 

The Nighthawks got on the scoreboard first, starting in the third inning. North Georgia hit two home runs in the inning on the way to scoring four runs.

After Mars Hill closed the gap with a pair of runs in the fifth and another in the sixth, sophomore Luke Starling came across to score the lone run of the in the bottom of the inning for North Georgia to push the lead back to 5-3.

North Georgia would expand the lead to 12-3 the following inning. The Nighthawks hit two home runs in the inning on the way to scoring seven runs. Mars Hill put one run on the scoreboard with a solo home run.

The teams wrap up the three-game series with a 1:00 p.m. first pitch tomorrow (Sunday).