DAHLONEGA – The No. 23 University of North Georgia baseball team took both games of a Peach Belt Conference doubleheader against USC Beaufort Saturday afternoon. 

With a 17-7 win in game one and a 12-6 win in game two, the Nighthawks extended their win streak to eight straight games, the longest mark of the season. Both wins came at Bob Stein Stadium at Lynn Cottrell Park, giving UNG a now 13-2 home record so far this year.

The Nighthawks will resume and complete the three-game set tomorrow, Sunday, Mar. 17 with the series finale against the Sandsharks beginning at 1 p.m. 

Game 1: Nighthawks def. Sandsharks, 17-7 (7 Inn.)

The USC Beaufort pitching staff struggled mightily, much to the enjoyment of the Nighthawks in the series' opening game Saturday. 

UNG worked 12 walks in total in the game which included five bases-loaded walks in the fifth inning. 

After a double from redshirt sophomore first baseman Phillip Ard scored a run in the first to give UNG a 1-0 lead, it was actually the Sandsharks who took control of the game with some offense later. 

Trailing by a run in the fourth, USCB put up five runs in the inning to take a 5-1 lead. 

A double from sophomore outfielder Andrews Opata cut into the Sand Shark advantage at 5-2 in the bottom half of the inning, but an infield single in the fifth from USCB put them up by four runs again heading into the bottom of the fifth. 

Junior infielder Riley Frost led off with a walk. Then Ard singled. Sophomore Edwin Bowman IV walked to load the bases. 

Then sophomore infielder Luke Starling, junior outfielder Jorge Arispuro, sophomore infielder Brady Skipper and junior catcher Bryson Stripling all worked four consecutive, bases-loaded walks to tie the game at 6-6 a piece.

The streak was broken when Opata reached on a fielder's choice, only to be resumed the next at bat when freshman outfielder Noah Darden walked to load the bases again. Then, you guessed it, Frost walked to score another run, this time making it 8-6. 

After a Sand Shark run was tallied in the sixth, UNG added three more of its own, this time off the bat. Opata and Darden had back-to-back RBI singles to extend the lead to 12-7.

The Nighthawks would force the mercy rule in the seventh inning by adding five more runs, highlighted by a three-run bomb from Opata, his fourth of the year.

Opata's three-run home run, paired with a bases-loaded walk and some timely hitting, gave him a team-high six RBIs in the win. 

Game 2: Nighthawks def. Sandsharks, 12-6

Similar to the day's first game, the Sand Sharks jumped out to an early lead in game two, but were unable to maintain as the day progressed on.

Neither team scored through the first three innings until USCB broke things open slightly with a trio of runs in the fourth. 

However, it didn't take long for the Nighthawks to respond as they scratched across four runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead, 4-3. 

In that fourth inning, Bowman cranked his first home run of the season, a two-run shot that scored freshman catcher Kyle Robitzsch as well. 

Bowman's home run made him the eighth unique UNG batter to record a home run this season. In the PBC, only Georgia College and Georgia Southwestern have more than eight different hitters with a home run. 

Bowman's game-tying home run was followed by yet another RBI from Opata, as he singled into center to score Skipper.

In the sixth, Opata was brought home this time after a double from Darden, making it 6-3 for UNG.

Then the Nighthawks poured it on in the seventh with five runs coming across the plate to bolster the lead to 11-3. 

After UNG got another run in the seventh, the Sand Sharks added three runs in the top of the ninth before finally bowing out.