Franklin Springs, Ga. – Outscoring Emmanuel College 41-11 in the three game weekend series, North Georgia College & State University blasted the Lions (8-24, 3-20) to sweep the Southern States Athletic Conference series and improve their record to 32-10 and 16-8 in conference.

Junior second baseman Brian Lauderdale (Roswell, Ga.), sophomore first baseman Creston Warner (Jacksonville, Fla.), and senior right fielder Richie Daigle (Alpharetta, Ga.) all knocked the ball out of the ball park in the first game as the Saints went on to win 20-8. Warner finished the game with two runs and five RBI's to lead North Georgia at the plate. Junior starting pitcher Stephen Flake (Marietta, Ga.) picked up the win and improved his record to 4-1 on the season and now has a 1.00 ERA in SSAC games with 24 strikeouts.

Box Score

Game two saw the Saints jump out to an 8-1 lead after three innings and pick up win number two 11-1. Six North Georgia batters hit doubles with sophomore third baseman Justin Rickett (Cumming, Ga.) a home run shy of hitting for the cycle in the game. Rickett went three-for-three with three runs and one RBI. Senior pitcher Justin Stowe (Marietta, Ga.) pitched six strong innings and scattered seven hits while allowing one earned run and striking out eight.

Box Score

Using a balanced attack, the Saints won the final game of the series 10-2. Six of North Georgia's starting nine got at least one hit in the game and three Saints swiped a base with Lauderdale picking up two stolen bases. Senior starting pitcher Jason Willard (Columbus, Ga.) went the distance to pick up his team high eighth win after allowing only two earned runs off of four hits.

Box Score

North Georgia returns to action tomorrow as they head to Demorest to take on Piedmont College at 7:00 p.m.

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