DAHLONEGA – The University of North Georgia (UNG) baseball team completed a weekend sweep of Georgia College (GCSU) with an 8-5 win Sunday at Bob Stein Stadium at Lynn Cottrell Park.

The Nighthawks (9-5) took three games from the defending Peach Belt Conference Tournament Champion Bobcats (5-9) behind clutch pitching on Sunday afternoon.

GCSU, ranked in the preseason by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) as the No. 13 team in the country, have now lost five straight games.

UNG jumped out to an early lead on Sunday behind five runs in the first two innings.

In the first frame, redshirt junior first baseman Phillip Ard recorded his seventh RBI of the series with a double down the left field line to put the Nighthawks on the board first. 

UNG then put up four runs in the second inning to take a stranglehold on the game in the early goings. 

A two-out rally started when senior catcher Bryson Stripling worked a walk to put two runners on base and flip the lineup to the top of the order.

Junior center fielder Andrews Opata, who made a home run-saving catch in the top of the inning, brought in another run as he singled up the middle to plate senior third baseman Riley Frost.

Then junior shortstop Jace Bowen doubled to left as both Stripling and Opata raced home. 

Ard then doubled to right center to knock Bowen in and make it a 5-0 lead for the Nighthawks. 

Ard was sensational this weekend against the in-state rival. He had multiple RBI in every game, going 5-for-11 (.454) at the plate with two doubles, two home runs, two runs scored and eight RBI. 

UNG held its 5-0 lead all the way into the sixth inning as senior starter Dylan Noce shut down the Bobcat offense.

After allowing two base hits in the first inning, Noce got out of the inning as he forced Matthew Mebane to ground into a double play. From there Noce retired 12 consecutive GCSU hitters to keep the Bobcats off the scoreboard.

GCSU finally broke through against the righty in the sixth inning as four of its first five hitters reached on base hits to make it 5-1 with the bases loaded and no outs when Noce was finally pulled from the game.

The Bobcats brought in two more runs against Nighthawk redshirt sophomore reliever Nathan Alexander. Then junior Connor Harris came on to pitch and one more run came in to make it 5-4.

GCSU tied the game in the seventh with a single, sacrifice bunt, single combination to even the contest at 5-5. However, the Bobcats were not satisfied.

Head coach Tom Cantrell went back to the bullpen as GCSU threatened to take its first lead of the game. He chose junior right-handed pitcher Matthew Heard to shut down the Bobcats but Heard walked his first batter.

With two on and only one out, Heard would have to face two of the best hitters in the Bobcat lineup in Braeden Smith and Mebane. 

Despite falling behind 2-0 in the at bat, Heard struck Smith out looking with a curveball to record the second out of the inning. Against Mebane, who hit 20 homers last season, Heard got the biggest strikeout of the day as he pumped a fastball past the third baseman to end the inning.

UNG responded in the home half of the inning sophomore left fielder Kyle Robitzsch led things off with a single. Robitzsch was then removed for a pinch runner in senior left fielder Jorge Arispuro who moved up to second base on a wild pitch. 

Redshirt freshman Nicholas Stinson then batted in Arispuro for his sixth RBI of the series to untie the game and put UNG back in front 6-5.

Stinson had a breakout weekend as he went 6-for-13 (.462) at the dish with four runs scored, two home runs and six RBI.

It was then Opata's turn to come through in a clutch moment as he stepped up with the bases loaded and two outs. The lead-off hitter provided the Nighthawks with two insurance runs as his single up the middle brought in Stinson and Frost to make it 8-5.

Heard came back on in the eighth inning and recorded a one-two-three inning that was capped off by his third strikeout of the game.

Heard earned the win as he finished the Bobcats off in the ninth inning to secure the sweep.

UNG will now get ready for its first PBC series of the season as it heads to Columbus State next weekend to take on the Cougars. The three-day series begins on Friday, Feb. 28 at 5 p.m.