Wednesday, March 19, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: David Beall, Sports Information Director

SAINTS USE LATE HEROICS AGAIN, SNAG 7-5 WIN AT BLAZERS
Pair of late home runs seals fifth straight win

Box Score

VALDOSTA, GA – North Georgia College & State University got a pair of ninth inning home runs to break a tie and defeat Valdosta State University 7-5 in non-conference baseball action at Billy Grant Field Wednesday afternoon.

The two teams entered the top of the ninth inning with the scored tied 4-4, but North Georgia’s Chad Sage led off with a home run to left-center. Logan Sharrett followed with a walk on five pitches before Craig Brisson homered to center field, giving the Saints a three-run lead as they would hold on for the 7-5 win and second straight series sweep.

Trailing 3-0 after the first inning, North Georgia got two runs back in the top of the third as they led off the inning with a pair of hits. Brisson singled to open the frame and moved to second as Andre Airich also tallied a base knock. A wild pitch allowed both runners to move up a base while Brisson scored on a Rob Flanigan ground out. Josh Tate followed with a sacrifice fly to left to drive in Airich and cut the Blazer lead to 3-2.

VSU responded with Daniel Muniz’s fourth home run of the season with one out in the bottom of the third while the Saints got an Andrew Jones solo homer with one out in the sixth before evening the game in the seventh.

Brisson walked to open the seventh and advanced to second on an Airich sacrifice bunt. Flanigan was intentionally walked to set up a possible double play, but Tate singled to left, scoring Brisson to tie the game at 4-4 and set the late-game heroics by the Saints.

Jacob Rickett (2-1) picked up the victory in relief, allowed one hit and a run in two innings of work, while VSU’s Koenigsfeld gave up three hits and four runs in his first outing of the year on the mound to fall to 0-1.

North Georgia (15-11, 7-5 PBC) will return to action this weekend, hosting UNC Pembroke for a three-game series. A double header is set for Friday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. while a single game on Saturday is also scheduled for 1:00 P.M.

-NGCSU-

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