AMERICUS, Ga. – The No. 22 University of North Georgia (UNG) baseball team took down Georgia Southwestern (GSW) 7-1 in the final game of a Peach Belt Conference road series Sunday afternoon.
The Nighthawks (27-10, 15-3 Peach Belt) have now won all six series against conference opponents this year after defeating the Hurricanes (24-15, 12-6 Peach Belt) Sunday.
UNG fell behind early in the game after an RBI double from GSW's Paul Hegeman in the first inning.
That was no issue for the Nighthawks who had already come from behind for a 5-4 win in Friday's series opener. With a Hurricanes win on Saturday, Sunday served as a rubber match that UNG desperately wanted win.
With that in mind, it didn't take long for the Nighthawks to answer the early deficit as junior shortstop
Jace Bowen brought in a run on a bases-loaded groundout in the third inning to tie the game. Sunday was Bowen's first action after missing the last 12 games with an injury.
After tying the game in the previous inning, the Nighthawks broke through for six runs in the fourth that would ultimately lead to the 7-1 win.
A bases-loaded sacrifice fly from senior third baseman
Riley Frost sent redshirt freshman
Nicholas Stinson home to make it 2-1.
The next four batters would all reach base safely as UNG went on a two-out rally.
Senior catcher
Bryson Stripling poked an RBI single to left field before junior center fielder
Andrews Opata reached on an error that brought in another run.
At 4-1, a second consecutive error from the Hurricanes saw Bowen reach safely as Stripling scored.
Stinson stepped up to the plate for the second time in the inning and promptly roped a single to left field. Both Bowen and Opata scored to give Stinson a pair of RBIs and finish off the scoring at seven runs.
With seven runs of support from the offense, Nighthawk senior starting pitcher
Dylan Noce kept the Hurricanes at bay with five shutdown innings of work. He allowed the lone run on just three hits in the game. Noce (4-0) only walked one batter and struck out four in his fourth victory of the season.
Junior reliever
Matthew Heard entered in the sixth inning and completely eliminated any threat from the GSW lineup. In his second save of the season, Heard allowed just one hit as he dazzled in four scoreless innings with no walks and two strikeouts.
At 15-3 in conference play this season, UNG sits one game behind first-place Georgia College (GCSU) in the league standings. The Bobcats are on a seven-game win streak and have not lost a conference matchup since March 21. The Nighthawks swept GCSU in a three-game non-conference series back in late February.
The two teams will not meet again until the final series of the regular season which takes place in Milledgeville, Ga. on April 25-27.
For now UNG looks ahead to a major regional bout with No. 15 North Greenville. The standalone Tuesday game on April 8 takes place at 3:30 p.m. from Tigerville, S.C.
