DAHLONEGA — The University of North Georgia men's tennis team advanced to the Southeast Regional finals while the baseball and softball teams both rolled into the Peach Belt Conference Tournament Championship Series on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the men's golf team finished 12th in its first-ever team appearance at the NCAA South Regional.
No. 25 baseball sweeps Young Harris, advances to PBC Championship Series
After forcing a decisive game three, the No. 25 University of North Georgia baseball team used a pair of long balls, including a Crews Taylor walkoff blast, to advance to the Peach Belt Conference Tournament Championship Series, presented by Under Armour, Saturday night with a sweep of Young Harris.
GAME ONE: UNG 6, YHC 3
Pierce Williams was perfect through 5.2 innings of work, allowing North Georgia to jump out to an early lead. In the third, Taylor poked a RBI single to right field before Andres Perez had a sacrifice fly that pushed UNG out to a 2-0 lead. The Nighthawks extended the lead in the fourth on a RBI double from Will Hardigree and again in the fifth on a two-run homer from Perez, making the score 5-0.
The Mountain Lions answered in the eighth, plating three runs off a Brett Hawkins RBI double and a Logan Worley RBI single to cut the lead to 5-3 before UNG got an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth off a Taylor homer.
Williams (4-0) went the complete game, fanning five while allowing just a pair of hits and three walks.
GAME TWO: UNG 12, YHC 10
North Georgia again got on the board first on a two-run bomb from Jake Arnold in the third and RBI singles from Arnold and Nik Levensteins in the fourth to take a 4-0 lead. YHC came back in the fifth to tie it up off a Brandon Jolliff two-run homer and RBI singles from Dahlton Cash and Jackson Jones.
UNG retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth on a Brady Eeles sacrifice fly, but the Mountain Lions stormed out in front, plating six runs over the sixth and seventh innings to take a 10-5 lead. North Georgia started to claw back into it after the stretch as Levensteins pushed a RBI single out to right field to trim the lead to 10-6.
In the eighth, Tim Conway hit a one-out solo homer to straight away center to cut into the lead a little further. After a strikeout got the inning to two outs, Bill LeRoy and Eeles reached base ahead of Levensteins who tied the game with a single swing to right center at 10-10.
UNG got Arnold on to leadoff the ninth ahead of Taylor, who pushed UNG to the championship series with a two-run blast to right center.
Beau Jones (3-1) earned the win in relief, allowing just one walk over 2.2 innings, punching out four Mountain Lions.
NOTES
- The Nighthawks will look to win their first PBC Tournament title since 2008 and are now in the championship for the first time since 2009.
- UNG hit six homers on the day, pushing their season total to 86, breaking the single season record at UNG which stood at 80 from the 2017 campaign.
NEXT UP
North Georgia will wait on the other semifinal series between Columbus State and UNC Pembroke to wrap up tomorrow before seeing their opponent in another best-of-three series next weekend. Columbus State won the opener, 7-3, Saturday afternoon. If Columbus State wins once Sunday, UNG would host the Cougars in the championship, while if the Braves sweep Sunday's twinbill, the Nighthawks would travel to UNCP next weekend.
No. 3 softball advances to PBC finals
DAHLONEGA — The third-ranked University of North Georgia softball team took care of business Saturday afternoon as they took down fourth-seeded Columbus State in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament semifinal, 6-1, at The Hill.
North Georgia struck first in the third inning when Olivia Sinquefield doubled to left center to give UNG a 1-0 lead. Columbus State answered in the next frame, pushing across a run on a Madeline Parker RBI single with the bases loaded to tie the game, but Kylee Smith worked out of the jam to keep the score tied.
The Nighthawks blew the game open in the fifth, starting with a bases loaded RBI triple from Shelby Hammontree to push the lead out to 4-1. After a fielder's choice plated Hammontree, Mallory Parker wrapped up the scoring with a RBI single.
NOTES
- Smith improved to 15-3 with an eight strikeout performance. She scattered a run off three hits and four walks across the seven innings.
- Sinquefield finished the day 2-for-3 at the plate as the only UNG batter with multiple hits.
- In the second semifinal, Young Harris scored the final six runs of the game to win, 6-3, over UNC Pembroke.
NEXT UP
The Nighthawks will take on No. 10 YHC next Saturday. Game time as well as ticket information will be released early next week.
No. 10 men's tennis advances to Southeast Region Final
DAHLONEGA — For the first time since 2016, the No. 10 University of North Georgia men's tennis team has reached the round of 16 and the Southeast Region final as they knocked off No. 5 Lander Saturday afternoon, 4-2, at the UNG Tennis Complex at Yahoola Creek.
Zach Waldow and Joaquin Benoit got things started with a 6-3 win on the second doubles line, but Lander took No. 3, bringing the doubles point down to the top line. In a tiebreak, Ryan Gaskin and Kevin Candido Magnusson took the doubles point, 7-6 (5).
In singles action, Gaskin quickly dispatched of his opponent on the top line, 6-1, 6-2, finishing just ahead of Benoit's 6-2, 6-4 win on the second line that put UNG within a point of clinching. Lander stormed back to try and mount a comeback, winning at No. 6 and No. 3 in straight sets. Waldow finished off the match with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 win on the fourth line, pushing the Nighthawks to the regional final.
UNG will battle No. 1 Columbus State for a spot in Surprise, Arizona, tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. The Cougars took down fourth-seeded Wingate, 4-0, Saturday afternoon.
No. 19 men's golf finishes 12th at NCAA South/Southeast Regional
BOWLING GREEN, Fla. — In its first ever team appearance at the NCAA South Regional, the No. 19 University of North Georgia men's golf team finished in 12th place Saturday with Grant Crowell finishing as the top Nighthawk.
Crowell shot a final round 71 to finish in a tie for 10th place individually, putting up two birdies on the card. His 54-hole score of 1-over 217 was eight shots behind Erskine's Alberto Avila, who won the tournament and advanced to the NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championships with a 7-under tournament total.
The Nighthawks finished the tournament with a 7-over team total on the final day, putting them at +26 for the event. UNG defeated Young Harris, USC Aiken, Mount Olive and Valdosta State on the team leaderboard.
Lee, West Florida, Georgia Southwestern and Columbus State were the four teams that earned the right to compete for a national championship with the Flames winning the regional by three shots over the Argonauts.
