Tuesday, April 11, 2006

SAINTS USE LATE INNING RALLY TO SLIDE PAST BRAVES 6-5

Dahlonega, Ga. – A four-run seventh inning helped North Georgia (25-20, 5-10 PBC) come from behind and beat UNC Pembroke (26-16, 10-8 PBC) 6-5 on Sunday night. Creston Warner went 1-2 with 3 RBIs in the conference win.

UNC Pembroke jumped out to a quick lead when Jeff Adams singled to right field to score Barrett Otto and give the Braves a 1-0 advantage over the Saints in the first inning.

North Georgia fought right back in the bottom of the second inning when freshman Josh Tate came to the plate with the bases loaded and only one out. Tate walked to plate Ryan Gurley and tie the game 1-1. The following inning the Saints would take a brief lead when Jake Barrow raced to the plate on a sacrifice fly by Warner that gave North Georgia a 2-1 lead after three innings.

In the top of the fourth inning the Braves put two people on base before back-to-back singles by Zach Conaway and Jason Morales scored Chris Beck and Kevin Dietrich to give a one run lead right back to UNC Pembroke.

Pitching controlled the game until the bottom of the seventh when North Georgia used an RBI single by Gurley to score Brian Lauderdale and tie the game at 3-3. For Gurley, who is hitting .324, it was his 25th RBI of the season. The next batter, Warner, doubled to left center while Gurley and Barrow raced to the plate to give the Saints a 5-3 lead. Tate added to the score as well with a two out RBI single to give the Saints a 6-3 lead after seven innings.

UNC Pembroke had one last rally left in the ninth inning as they loaded the bases with no one out, but Saints’ pitcher Dustin Wellborn came in and held the Braves to two runs as he picked up his third save of the season in a 6-5 win.

Saints’ starting pitcher Tom Bradley captured the win as he went 7.0 innings and allowed only one earned run. Bradley improves his record to 5-2 with an ERA of 3.84 in 10 games this season. The loss went to Jordan Carter who allowed six earned runs in 6.2 innings of work. Carter walked seven and struck out four as his record falls to 6-2 on the year.

The Saints return to action on Tuesday, April 11, as they travel to North Carolina to take on Pfeiffer University at 3pm. UNC Pembroke returns home to play host to Claflin University for a double-header starting at 3pm on Wednesday, April 12.

Box Score

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