MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – The No. 14 University of North Georgia (UNG) baseball team dropped the second game of its three-game road series at Georgia College (GCSU) 9-1 Saturday afternoon.
With the loss, the Nighthawks fell to 35-13 on the season and 22-4 in Peach Belt Conference play. Second place Lander defeated Georgia Southwestern 6-4 Saturday, improving 22-4 in conference play in the process.
Now the final day of the regular season will determine the regular-season champion of the Peach Belt.
If one team wins while the other loses, the winning team will earn the outright PBC title. If both the Nighthawks and Bearcats record the same result on Sunday, they will share the title and UNG will earn the top seed in the PBC Tournament by virtue of a tiebreaker after defeating Lander in the season series back in March.
Saturday's loss to the Bobcats marked a uniquely low scoring performance for the Nighthawks who entered the contest as the top offense in the conference, leading the league runs, hits and batting average.
UNG was limited to just one run on nine hits against the Bobcats. It was just the second time this season the Nighthawks had been held to one run in a game.
The lone run came on a sixth-inning solo home run from senior right fielder
Jorge Arispuro. The deep fly to left center field was Arispuro's fifth of the season and second of the series after already tagging a solo homer in game one as well.
The blast made it a 2-1 game in the sixth inning and kept UNG within striking distance. However, the Bobcats responded with two runs in the seventh and five runs in the eighth inning to run away with the victory.
First pitch for the regular season finale is set for Sunday, April 27 at 1 p.m. from John Kurtz Field in Milledgeville, Ga. Lander and GSW will also begin at 1 p.m. from Americus, Ga.
