SAVANNAH — The University of North Georgia Nighthawks baseball team earned a Peach Belt Conference series win with a doubleheader sweep of Armstrong State Friday afternoon. UNG won game one 6-0 and edged the Pirates in an extra-inning affair in the nightcap, 6-5.
North Georgia is now 16-12 overall and 8-9 in PBC play. The Pirates fell to 12-16 with the two losses and 4-13 in the league.
GAME ONE
Brandon Agar struck out a school-record 14 Pirates in a complete game shutout where Armstrong was able to scatter just three hits.
The Nighthawks scored three runs in the sixth inning on back-to-back home runs. After two quick outs, Connor Hoover hit a double to center field. Four pitches later, Sam Tidaback hit his seventh homer of the season. Trevor Sams stepped in to the plate and, on the second pitch, hit his seventh as well to put UNG up, 3-0.
North Georgia added two more in the eighth inning. Again with two outs, Sams doubled to right center, scoring Devin Gearhart and Hoover to stretch the Nighthawk lead to five runs. Tidaback brought home the game's final run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly, scoring Kevin Krupp.
Armstrong got two runners on in the bottom of the ninth, but Agar responded by striking out the final three Pirates.
GAME TWO
The scoring began much quicker for North Georgia in the second game of the doubleheader, putting a run on the scoreboard in the second inning. Krupp hit a sacrifice fly to score Steven Tomlinson and put North Georgia up, 1-0.
Armstrong scored its first runs of the day in the bottom half of the inning. The Pirates led off the inning with a single and a double. Zack Goble scored the tying run on a groundout. Three batters later, Will Austin earned a RBI on a single to left that put Armstrong in the lead, 2-1.
North Georgia tied it back up in the fourth with two outs when Erick Delgado hit a RBI double to left field.
The Pirates retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth after Goble singled to score a third Pirate run. Two batters later, he came around to score on a Cody Sherlin RBI single to stretch the Armstrong lead to 4-2.
The Nighthawks responded in the next frame. Sams led off the inning by reaching base after getting hit. Three pitches later, Tomlinson hit the third Nighthawk home run of the day to tie the game again, 4-4. In the seventh, Sams got his fourth RBI of the day on a single to the left side, scoring Gearhart and taking the lead, 5-4.
Armstrong put together some late-inning magic to tie the game in the eighth. After the Pirate run to tie the game at five, Taylor Keinat and Jacob Jones combined to retire seven of the eight Pirates that came to the plate through the tenth inning.
In the 11th inning, Gearhart brought home the game-winning run with two outs on a single through the left side to bring the game to its 6-5 final score.
NEXT UP
North Georgia will go for the sweep tomorrow in Savannah with first pitch scheduled for noon
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/3/380192/agar-fans-school-record-14-nighthawks-sweep-doubleheader-against-pirates