DAHLONEGA – The No. 13 University of North Georgia (UNG) baseball team was forced to wait for over three hours before finishing off fifth-seeded Georgia Southwestern (GSW) 9-4 in the 2025 Peach Belt Conference Baseball Tournament quarterfinals Saturday at Bob Stein Stadium at Lynn Cottrell Park.
After a rain-soaked day and a 4-0 loss to eighth-seeded Augusta in the opening game of the tournament on Friday, the Nighthawks took the field on schedule in an elimination against the Hurricanes on Saturday.
With their hopes of a PBC Tournament title on the line, UNG needed a win to avoid its second loss and thus elimination from the conference postseason.
The game got off on the wrong foot for the Nighthawks as GSW pulled ahead 1-0 within the first three batters thanks to a lead-off single, a walk and an RBI single from David Hernandez.
Redshirt sophomore starting pitcher
Luke Earnhardt was forced to pitch out of an early jam as an error and another walk loaded the bases with only one out in the opening frame. Earnhardt got a much-needed ground ball to third base where senior third baseman
Riley Frost fielded and fired to home for a force out of the lead runner to get the second out.
Earnhardt then retired the side with his first strikeout of the day to keep a bad inning from getting worse. The lone run in the top of the first would be the only offense GSW could muster until after a three-hour rain delay later in the game.
Prior to the delay, the Nighthawk bats finally woke up after getting shutout for the first time this season just 24 hours earlier.
Redshirt junior first baseman
Phillip Ard did what he does best as he blasted a 3-2 pitch over the left field wall to take a 2-1 lead.
With two on and two out the next inning, Ard came to the plate again. The new UNG single-season RBI record holder added to his historic total again. Ard connected on the first pitch of the bat and smoked the ball over the wall in left center field for his second homer of the day and 21st of the year. He's now two home runs shy of tying the UNG single-season record set by Andres Perez in 2018 and matched most recently by Crews Taylor in 2022.
His second bomb of the day put UNG in the driver's seat with a 5-1 lead. However, the Nighthawks–namely senior outfielder
Jorge Arispuro–were not satisfied. The fourth-year veteran tagged a ball to the gap in left center to score another run as redshirt freshman
Nicholas Stinson scored from first after being hit by a pitch.
Stinson then returned the favor in the fourth inning with an RBI double of his own as he plated junior shortstop
Jace Bowen after lacing a ball to right field. With a 7-1 lead, UNG had its sights set on a rematch with Augusta with a win. Mother nature had other plans.
Inclement weather quickly consumed the Dahlonega area in the top of the eighth inning. The game was halted as the Nighthawks held the six-run lead needing to get just six more outs to secure the win.
The delay took over three hours before play finally resumed at 11:15 p.m. at Bob Stein Stadium.
GSW quickly got on the board after a triple and an error opened the resumption of play in the eighth.
The slippery conditions wreaked havoc for both defenses after the pause in action. In the bottom of the eighth, UNG added a pair of insurance runs after back-to-back errors allowed junior outfielder
Edwin Bowman IV and Bowen to cross home plate.
Trailing 9-2, the Hurricanes would not go away quietly in the ninth. A bases-loaded, two-out double from XX Manuel scored a pair of runs to make it 9-4 before Frost finished the game with an unassisted putout at third base to secure the win.
Now the Nighthawks will face the Jaguars in an opportunity for revenge. The final elimination game of the quarterfinals will take place at Bob Stein Stadium at 12:00 p.m. Sunday, May 4. The winner between Augusta and UNG will advance to the semifinals to face fourth-seeded Columbus State (CSU) approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of Sunday's elimination game.
With the Cougars having won two games already, whichever team faces CSU will need to win the first game of the semifinals to force a decisive second game. If a second game is necessary, it will be played Monday, May 5 at a time to be determined in the future.
The winner between the Cougars and either Augusta or UNG will secure its spot in the PBC Championship series to be hosted at the site of the highest-remaining seed in the tournament May 9-11.
