COLUMBUS — For the third time in five years, the North Georgia baseball team took home the Peach Belt Conference regular season championship with a 4-2 victory over Columbus State Sunday afternoon.
The Cougars struck first, scoring both of their runs on a first inning RBI single, but North Georgia got the momentum back in the fourth, starting with a Jake Arnold solo blast that cut the lead in half.
Three batters later, Bill LeRoy tied the game with a RBI single to plate Crews Taylor before the Nighthawks took the lead on a Cougar error, 3-2. UNG scored the final run in the sixth as Taylor came home on a double play.
NOTES
- After finishing the season tied with Flagler in the standings for the top spot, the Nighthawks will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming PBC tournament due to UNG taking two of three from the Saints earlier in the year.
- Cade Heil (4-2) earned the win for North Georgia after going 8.2 innings and striking out 10 along the way. Parker Morrison earned his eighth save of the year.
- Arnold, Chase Sudduth, Brady Eeles and Nik Levensteins each had two hits in the game with Levensteins going 2-for-2 after entering the game as a pinch hitter.
NEXT UP
The Nighthawks will head to St. Augustine, Florida, for the Peach Belt Conference Tournament next weekend and will be in Pool A. UNG is in a pool with No. 4 Young Harris, No. 5 Georgia College and No. 8 Georgia Southwestern. The full tournament schedule will be released Monday.
