Sunday, April 30, 2006

SAINTS SWEEP DOUBLE-HEADER ON SENIOR DAY

Dahlonega, Ga. – North Georgia College & State University used a ninth inning rally to take game one 6-5, and a seven run third inning helped hold down Augusta State University 13-7 in game two.

In game one, North Georgia (32-21, 9-15 PBC) got on the board first in the third inning when Justin Rickett was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring home Jake Barrow. Ryan Gurley followed with a line drive single up the middle to score two and give the Saints a 3-0 lead. Augusta State (15-39, 2-25 PBC) fought right back in the fifth inning when Garrick McGrath doubled off the left field wall to score Justin Walker and make it a 3-1 game. Three batters later Chris Walters rolled a grounder under the first baseman’s glove to plate their second run of the game. Robbie Fite then hit a liner to centerfield for a sacrifice fly to score McGrath and tie the game 3-3.

Erik Good got the lead right back in the bottom of the sixth inning with a leadoff homer that just cleared the left field wall to give the Saints a 4-3 lead.

The Jaguars had one last chance in the ninth inning and McGrath came through with a two run homer to score Walker who had led off with a double and gave Augusta State a 5-4 lead as the game went to the bottom of the ninth. Gurley lead off the bottom half of the inning and came right back with a shot of his own as he hit a low liner that cleared the wall in right center to tie the game 5-5. The Saints used a walk and two straight singles to load the bases for Barrow who grounded out to the shortstop to score Creston Warner and give North Georgia a 6-5 come from behind win in game one.

Tom Bradley got the rock for the Saints as he threw seven innings, allowed two hits, three runs and struck out eight in the no decision. Zach Black pitched two innings in relief and picked up the win to improve to 6-2 on the year. Preston Crews grabs the loss for the Jaguars as he faced five batters in the ninth inning and gave up the winning run to fall to 1-3 on the season.

In game two, Rickett got the Saints on the board in the first inning with a groundout to score Brian Lauderdale and take a 1-0 lead. Gurley followed with a sacrifice fly to plate Barrow and give North Georgia a 2-0 lead after one inning. Rickett put two runs across in the third with a blast over the left field wall to score Lauderdale and give the Saints a 4-0 lead. Josh Tate drove in another run with an infield single, and Davy Wallach added two more runs with a double over the right fielders head. David Chastain followed with a two RBI single up the middle and the Saints held a commanding 9-0 lead after three innings.

The Jaguars finally got on the board in the fourth inning with back-to-back RBI singles from Jorge Virguez and Chris Walker to score two runs. ASU pushed another run across on a groundout to plate Jeremy Armstrong and North Georgia took a 9-3 lead into the last of the fourth. In the bottom half of the fourth Wallach hit his second double of the game and added his third and fourth RBI of the afternoon as the Saints led 11-3 after four innings.

Chris Demons led off the fifth with a lined shot over the right field wall and the North Georgia lead was trimmed to 11-4. The Jaguars put a three spot on the board in the sixth, and the Saints answered with two runs in the bottom half to take game two 13-7.

Cory Gilleland was the winner as he pitched 5.2 innings and gave up seven runs but only three of them were earned. The victory moves his record to 3-5 on the year. The loss goes to Justin Walker who allowed six hits and seven earned runs in 2.1 innings of work.

The Saints will return to action on Friday, May 5, as they travel to Lander University for a 7:00 p.m. meeting with the Bearcats.

Box Score, Game 1

Box Score, Game 2

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