February 2, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: David Beall, Sports Information Director

SAINTS SPLIT PAIR WITH INDIANS ON OPENING DAY
Rubber game of series Sunday afternoon

Box Score: Game 1 | Game 2

DAHLONEGA, GA – North Georgia College & State University took the early lead in game one and held on for a 4-2 victory, but fell 7-10 in the nightcap against Newberry College on Opening Day 2008.

In game one, the Saints had a scoring opportunity in the third inning with Craig Brisson standing at third with two outs and Rob Flanigan at the plate. The junior transfer made the most of his first game in Dahlonega and blasted a two-run homer over the right field fence for a 2-0 lead.

North Georgia scored again in the fourth inning and took a 3-0 lead with a Daniel Petitti lead off home run to deep left. The Saints would add one more in the inning on a Logan Sharrett single to bring Chad Sage home for a 4-0 advantage.

Newberry cut into the Saints lead in the sixth inning with unearned runs scored by Tyler Manasa and David Tunstill to make it a 4-2 North Georgia lead.

The Saints would shut the door in the late innings with three perfect innings from the relief pitchers. Garrett Lussi tossed two innings of no-hit ball, and Zack Black shut the door in the ninth to pick up his first save of the year.

Chris Curtis (1-0) got his season off to a strong start, picking up his first win in six innings of work. Curtis struck out four, allowed four hits and no earned runs in the first game of the season. Brandon Petty (0-1) picked up the loss, going 3.2 innings and allowing four earned runs.

In game two, Newberry jumped on the board first, with four unearned runs in the fifth inning. Four hits and a key error led to the big inning for the Indians who followed in the sixth with two more runs on three hits, capped by a sacrifice fly by Thomas Berryhill to make it a 6-0 game.

North Georgia got two of the runs back in the seventh inning with run-scoring singles by Brisson and Davy Wallach to make it a 2-6 game. The Saints continued to rally in the eighth inning, and quickly pushed a run across on a double by Petitti to bring Anders Oster racing home for a 3-6 game.

Three batters later, Neil Krock came to the plate with two runners on and promptly sent an 0-2 pitch over the fence down the left field line to tie the 6-6 and bring the North Georgia fans to their feet. Wallach put the Saints in front for the first time in the ballgame with his second RBI single of the night to bring Logan Sharrett to the plate for a 7-6 Saints lead.

The Indians got off the deck in the ninth however, and used three RBI singles to take a 7-10 lead, which turned out to be the final margin of victory. Robert Danise had the decisive base knock with a single up the middle that plated Manasa and Casio Grider.

Black (0-1) picked up the loss for the Saints, while Gary Hersey grabbed the win and Berryhill was tagged with his first save of the year.

North Georgia (1-1) and Newberry College (1-1) will play the rubber game of the three game series Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.

-NGCSU-

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