Saturday, March 4, 2006

Huntsville, Ala. - Hosting North Georgia in a non-conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon, the Alabama-Huntsville baseball squad dropped a pair of one run contests to the Saints falling 2-1 in the opener before falling 7-6 in the nightcap at Huntsville's Joe Davis Stadium.

Game one was a tale of two pitchers as North Georgia's Michael Whiting pitched a five-hit gem allowing only one run on back-to-back UAH doubles in the eighth. UAH junior Matt Guisler nearly matched Whiting's performance tossing seven solid innings for the Chargers allowing two earned runs and six hits.

The Saints drew first blood in the third inning after a bunt single, a stolen base and wild pitch found North Georgia's Josh Tate on third base with on away. A sacrifice fly by Brian Lauderdale scored the afternoon's first run. With the two pitcher's working quickly, the next run did not come until the top of the eighth when North Georgia's Justin Rickett hit the second sac fly of the game scoring Lauderdale from third for a 2-0 lead.

The Chargers responded in the bottom of the frame as junior second baseman Will Davis doubled with one away to give UAH a man in scoring position. Freshman left fielder Daniel Douglas swapped places with Davis with a double of his own to the right center gap making it a 2-1 game but that is as close as UAH would come as Whiting slammed the door shut after that.

Game two of the day saw the Saints waste no time getting on the board as the first two men reached on UAH miscues and came in to score giving North Georgia an early 2-0 advantage on Alabama-Huntsville senior starter Troy Mitchell. The third inning saw the Chargers take their first lead of the afternoon behind three hits and three Saint errors pushing across three runs for a 3-2 UAH lead.

UAH stretched the lead to 5-2 with another pair of unearned runs in the fourth as North Georgia gave up one hit and a pair of errors. The defensive miscues must have been contagious as the Charger defense made a pair in the top of the fifth to allow North Georgia to get the two runs back. The Saints defense continued their woes in the fifth giving up another unearned run to the Chargers when junior Will Evans came home to score thanks to a North Georgia error.

Clinging to a 6-4 lead with two outs in the top of the sixth, the Chargers decided to bring in junior southpaw reliever Jordan Steele in after Mitchell issued a two-out walk. The move would prove costly as Steele gave up a single and a walk to load the bases. UAH senior Daniel Jasper was called in to action but after working an 0-2 count to North Georgia catcher Erik Good, he fell behind in the count. With a full count, the runners sprang into action and Good delivered a single to right field that fell in front of UAH's Douglas allowing a pair of runs to come across. Douglas then mishandled the ball and North Georgia's Davy Wallach scored the eventual game-winning run.

The Chargers threatened in the sixth and seventh innings getting men aboard but were unable to push across a tying run.

North Georgia's Zach Black picked up the win on the hill Dustin Wellborn got the save for the Saints as they improve to 10-9. Steele took the loss for the Chargers as UAH falls to 3-13 on the season.

The two squads battle again on Sunday afternoon in another twinbill starting at 1 p.m.

Box Score, Game 1

Box Score, Game 2

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