Wednesday, April 26, 2006

SAINTS ROLL PAST CRUSADERS 9-4

Dahlonega, Ga. – North Georgia College & State University used a three hit game from senior Brian Lauderdale with two runs scored to lead the Saints over North Greenville University 9-4 on Wednesday night.

North Georgia (29-26) jumped out quickly in the first inning over the Crusaders (11-37) when Lauderdale led off with a hustle infield single. The senior then stole his 39th base of the year before senior Ryan Gurley rolled a ball by the first baseman to score Lauderdale and give the Saints a 1-0 lead. Sophomore Erik Good then followed with a groundout, but Jake Barrow raced home to extend the lead to 2-0. Josh Tate came to the plate with the bases jammed and one out as he singled up the middle to plate Gurley and help the Saints put a three spot on the board in the first frame.

In the second inning, Barrow walked and Gurley came to the plate with one out and hit a liner over the head of the centerfielder that scored Barrow and gave the Saints a 4-0 lead after two innings.

The third inning saw Matt Britt ground into a fielders choice, but Kyle Baron raced home from third to score the Crusaders first run of the game and cut the Saints lead to 4-1. In the last of the fourth, Good came to the plate and grounded out, but Lauderdale scored his second run of the day and extended the Saints lead to 5-1.

North Georgia added to the run column in the seventh inning with a one out single by Davy Wallach to score both Creston Warner and Josh Tate and give the Saints a 7-1 lead heading to the eighth inning. For Wallach, it was RBI 17 and 18 on the late season.

The Crusaders’ offense broke out in the eighth as cleanup hitter Chris Tate singled to the right side to score Britt and Eric Loy and pull to within four runs at 7-3. In the bottom half of the inning, Gurley led off with his second home run of the year over the right field fence to give the Saints an 8-3 advantage. Tate came to the plate with two outs and a runner on second and tripled into the right field corner to score Anders Oster and extend the lead to 9-3.  In the ninth inning, the Crusaders added a run as they fell 9-4 to the Saints.

Freshman Zach Black picks up the win for the North Georgia as he went 5.2 innings, allowed two runs, and struck out six as he improved to 5-2 on the year. Senior Adam Wise came in the ninth for his season debut to grab the first two outs of the inning, and freshman Garrett Lussi recorded the final out of the game to pick up the save. Dylan Davidson was tagged with the loss for the Crusaders as he fell to 3-10 on the year. In five innings, he allowed seven hits, five runs, and walked five.

North Georgia will return to action on Saturday, April 29, as they play host to Augusta State University at 7:00 p.m.

Box Score

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