DAHLONEGA – The No. 16 University of North Georgia (UNG) baseball team fended off Flagler in a 7-4 victory to open the weekend series at Bob Stein Stadium at Lynn Cottrell Park Friday afternoon.
With the win over the Saints (26-13, 10-9 Peach Belt), the Nighthawks (28-11, 16-3 Peach Belt) have now won the series opener in five of their six conference matchups this year and in eight of 10 series overall.
Friday's win was due to a number of clutch at bats and a good bullpen performance from the UNG relievers.
The Nighthawks struck first in the game when redshirt freshman
Nicholas Stinson reached on a fielder's choice with runners on the corners. Stinson's ground ball to third deflected off Flagler second baseman Carson Page's glove as the Saints attempted to turn two on the play. Junior center fielder
Andrews Opata scored on the play to make it 1-0.
An RBI single from Flagler tied the game at 1-1 in the second inning.
Then, a gritty two-out rally plated three Nighthawk runs in the home half of the frame.
Against Saints left-handed starter Ben Stubbs, senior third baseman
Riley Frost stepped to the plate with the bases empty and two outs.
Frost fell behind 0-2 to the powerful Stubbs who's fastball touched the mid-90s in velocity all day. Frost watched a breaking ball miss to make it 1-2 before fending off a fastball into foul play. Then he watched a bullet miss the strike zone up and away to make it 2-2. Two more foul balls kept Frost, and the inning, alive. Finally Stubbs missed the hit box on consecutive pitches and walked Frost with two outs.
The nine-pitch battle gave way for senior catcher
Bryson Stripling who also worked a full-count walk to turn the lineup over to the top of the card and the lead-off hitter in Opata.
Opata wasted no time in reclaiming the lead as he singled to center field on the first pitch to score Frost and make it 2-1.
Junior shortstop
Jace Bowen took first base freely in the next plate appearance as he loaded the bases with the third two-out walk of the inning from Stubbs.
Then redshirt junior first baseman
Phillip Ard stepped to the plate. With the bases loaded, the nation's second-best RBI hitter roped a single to right field to score two more runs and extend the Nighthawk lead to 4-1.
The lead would remain there until the fourth inning when the Saints capitalized on four walks in the frame by scoring two runs to get back within one.
The UNG offense stayed quiet in the middle innings while Flagler eventually tied the game on an RBI single from Eli Maddox in the top of the seventh. That lone run in the seventh was the only run the Saints would get over 5.2 innings against the Nighthawk bullpen. It was attributed to UNG junior reliever
Connor Harris who pitched well over three complete innings allowing just two hits with a walk and a strikeout.
After the seventh inning stretch, Ard flexed his muscles. The PBC's home run leader added his18th bomb of the year with a missile to left field that jumped off his barrel at 108 mph unofficially.
The solo shot from Ard sparked a rally that saw two more runs cross the plate thanks to an RBI double from freshman infielder
Jake Prince and a sacrifice fly from Frost.
With a 7-4 lead, head coach
Tom Cantrell went to the pitcher who has been his best reliever over the last 30 days.
Junior righty
Matthew Heard entered the game in the top of the seventh before Flagler tied the game. When he came out for the eighth, he dazzled with the three-run lead in hand.
Heard, who has not allowed a run in seven outings and 12.1 innings since March 23, gave up a lead-off single to open the frame. He rebounded with three Ks to the next three hitters to shut down the threat.
His fastball, curveball mix kept the Saints off balance in the ninth as well. Another lead-off single was mitigated by a 1-4-3 double play as Heard fielded his position to perfection for two outs. A groundout to short ended the game and secured Heard's third save of the year.
Harris and Heard combined for 5.2 innings of one-run ball with one walk and four strikeouts in total while only allowing six hits out of the bullpen.
The Nighthawks can take the series from the Saints on Saturday, April 12 when they take the field at 2 p.m. for the second game of the weekend set. A win would continue UNG's streak of eight series wins (six in conference play) that dates back to Feb. 9.
