Saturday, March 24, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Travis Jarome, Sports Information Director

** Todd Anderson, UNCP SID, contributed to this release

RICKETT'S BLAST LIFTS SAINTS TO DOUBLHEADER SPLIT
Senior Justin Rickett hits homerun in seventh inning to forge split   

PEMBROKE, N.C. – Senior Justin Rickett connected on a 2-2 outside fastball, sending the pitch over the rightfield wall in the top of the seventh, giving North Georgia College & State University to a come-from-behind 6-5 victory over UNC Pembroke at Sammy Cox Field.

The homerun, Rickett's team-leading sixth, gave the Saints their first lead of the nightcap and freshman Mike Peters came on in the bottom of the seventh inning and shut the Braves down in order to record his fifth save of the season.

Rickett led the Saints at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a pair of runs batted. Meanwhile, Creston Warner and Daniel Petitti each picked up two hits, while Craig Brisson extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a pair of hits in the nightcap for North Georgia (17-12, 7-4 PBC).

North Georgia sophomore Caleb Copeland (1-2) came on in the third inning, pitching four innings of scoreless relief allowing just two hits to pick up his first career collegiate victory. North Georgia starter Mitch Williams was tagged for three runs in just one inning of work.

UNCP took a 3-1 lead after the first inning, using a string of three hits to take the lead. In the top of the first inning, North Georgia took the lead when Brisson led of the inning with a single and scored on a Kevin Morrison groundout.

North Georgia tied the game up in the top of the second inning when Brad Hall and Warner singled to lead off the inning. After the duo was bunted over 90 feet by Neil Krock, then Hall scored when Petitti singled up the middle to trim the lead to 3-2. The Saints tied the game up when Brisson hit into a fielder's choice, enabling Warner to score and tie the game at 3-3.

UNCP scored two more runs in the bottom of the third inning to take a 5-3 lead, before North Georgia scored a run in the fourth to trim the lead to 5-4 when Krock scored on a passed ball after a walk to Brisson.

The game stayed that way until the top of the seventh inning when Brisson led off the inning with a single to leftfield. Following two consecutive outs, Rickett stepped to the plate and drilled the 2-2 pitch over the rightfield wall for the lead.

Meanwhile in game one, Derek Funk’s walk-off home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning gave UNCP its first lead of the game as the Braves rallied back from three deficits over the course of the contest before defeating North Georgia, 5-4, in the series opener Saturday afternoon at Sammy Cox Field.

Jay Bowman and Jason Morales each turned in two hits apiece at the plate to extend their respective hitting streaks out to seven games, with Funk’s dramatic four-bagger highlighting a 2-for-4 hitting line for the freshman. UNCP (20-12, 5-12) also got a multi-hit day from Chris Beck who pushed his hitting streak out to four games with a 2-for-3 plate performance.

UNCP starter Dave Cockroft, the reigning Peach Belt Pitcher of the Week, was tagged with four runs on nine hits and a pair of walks in just six and one-thirds innings of work, but did not pick up a decision for the first time in five outings. Closer Jake Allen (5-1) came on in relief of Cockroft with one out in the seventh and yielded just two hits the rest of the way out to earn his second victory in as many appearances on the week.

North Georgia used a leadoff triple and an ensuing run-scoring single to take a 1-0 second-inning lead, but UNCP rallied for a run of its own in the fourth to knot things back up. Anders Oster’s two-run single in the top of the sixth gave the lead back to the visitors, but the Braves answered in their half of the frame on RBI knocks from Beck and Jeff Adams.

The Saints would forge their third lead of the game on Craig Brisson’s RBI single up the middle in the seventh, but the Braves rallied back for the third time in the bottom of the inning on Josh Bentley’s solo homer to left field.

The two teams square off in the rubber game of the series on Sunday afternoon.

-NGCSU-

Related Item: Box Score
Related Item: Box Score

Return to Baseball