AUGUSTA — The University of North Georgia baseball team was picked to finish third in the league this season in a preseason poll of Peach Belt Conference coaches, the league announced on Friday.
USC Aiken and Columbus State were picked to finish first and second, respectively. The Nighthawks won their first-ever PBC regular season crown in 2015 and finished tied atop pool play at last year's PBC Tournament but were kept out of the championship game by way of a tiebreaker. One PBC coach picked the Nighthawks to win the conference crown this season.
The Nighthawks are ranked No. 27 nationally in Collegiate Baseball's preseason Top 40 poll that was released in late December. Defending national champion, Nova Southeastern topped the poll with two other PBC schools checking in to the ranking; USC Aiken at No. 10 and Lander at No. 28. The Pacers were the top ranked team in the Southeast Region.
UNG fans will get a heavy dose of Nighthawk baseball at Bob Stein Stadium this season with 32 regular season home games scheduled in Dahlonega. North Georgia will play just 18 games on the road this season with exactly half of those coming against teams ranked in the Top 30 in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll.
In the second weekend of the season the Nighthawks will play host to defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Nova Southeastern for a three-game set Feb. 10 - 12 at Bob Stein Stadium. UNG will play at home every weekend in February including the Nighthawks Nest Classic, a four team round-robin tournament on February 24 - 26, that will also feature Albany State, Florida Tech, and Quincy.
North Georgia will open up Peach Belt Conference action on the road traveling to Greenwood, South Carolina to take on defending Southeast Region champion and NCAA DII Championship participant, Lander on March 3 - 5. The following weekend the Nighthawks return home to host Armstrong State in the PBC home opener on March 11 & 12, that will feature one of just two doubleheaders at Bob Stein Stadium this season.
The Nighthawks will catch Augusta, Monetvallo, and Flagler in their other three PBC home series and travel to UNC Pembroke, Young Harris, and Columbus State in their last three conference road trips.
Fans wanting to catch North Georgia under the lights in Dahlonega will be entertained by midweek home games against Southern Wesleyan (March 1), West Georgia (March 21), Anderson (April 12), Auburn-Montgomery (April 19), and Shorter (April 26).
UNG will close out the regular season with a three-game series against Emmanuel (Ga.) on April 28 - 30.
The Peach Belt Conference Tournament will once again be hosted by Francis Marion at Sparrow Stadium in Florence, South Carolina on May 10 - 13, in a standard eight team double-elimination format.
