North Georgia steals series at Kurtz Field in 10-inning affair

Apr. 3—With a loaded slate of Peach Belt Conference baseball coming to John Kurtz Field in April, the month did not get off to a good start for the Georgia College & State University Bobcats. The University of North Georgia Nighthawks used two error-plagued innings late in Sunday's third and deciding game of the conference series to win the rubber match 7-5 and take the overall set in Millegeville two games to one.

North Georgia bashed the baseball in one big inning — the top of the sixth — Friday to score half of their runs in a 12-3 series-opening romp. But the Dahlonega visitors were held in check Saturday by two Georgia College arms, and catcher Trey Ham's late bases-loaded double provided a good cushion for the Bobcats to win Game 2 6-3.

Noah Belcher's club went to 11-7 in the Peach Belt standings, which ties them with a preseason favorite, Columbus State, for fourth place. Columbus was swept by Young Harris over the past weekend, and Young Harris now takes second place at 15-6. USC-Aiken is the league leader at 15-3.

North Georgia's efforts put the Nighthawks at 10-11, good for seventh place.

Sunday saw Georgia College senior Trey Felt matched up with left-handed sophomore Daniel Courtney of North Georgia, and the two matched zeroes on the scoreboard through three innings of play. Felt was in fact perfect through nine batters with two strikeouts while the Bobcats had hits from Ham and Palmer Sapp.

But North Georgia's second go-around with Felt was more productive with back-to-back hits from freshman Jace Bowen (double to left) and sophomore Riley Frost (opposite field single) to take a 1-0 lead. Felt got out of the top of the fourth with two more strikeouts and two runners left on base.

Ben Tuten doubled just inside the left field line in the bottom of the fourth, and with two outs the left-handed hitting Brandon Bellflower of Milledgeville pulled a go-ahead home run.

The lead did not last through the fifth, North Georgia manufacturing the tying run and ending Felt's outing. Redshirt-freshman John Raines got the last out, setting up another long stretch of scoreless baseball.

Over the next four innings, the Bobcats had just four baserunners — one via hit — and hit into two double plays. Raines also got a double play thanks to Bellflower in right field after a leadoff walk in the top of the sixth. North Georgia left five on base combined without scoring over the seventh and eighth innings.

The ninth and 10th frames were completely different with multiple defensive miscues and pitching changes. Facing 6-6 Bobcat sophomore Hunter Goodwin for the second time in the series, the Nighthawks put two in scoring position with one out. Goodwin got a key strikeout, but Ham was required to make a throw to first base. That ball got away from Mason Spivey, and both runners scored.

The batter also touched home later in the inning making it 5-2 North Georgia.

Georgia College faced five pitchers in the bottom of the ninth alone, but that wasn't enough to keep the home team from tying the score 5-5. It started with a walk to end Courtney's day, and Matthew Chester singled with one out. Ham singled one run in, and the Bobcats drew two more walks to get within one run at 5-4. The fifth pitcher of the frame got the second out while GC tied the game.

It was North Georgia that owned the 10th, getting runners on the corners with no outs. Belcher went with Davis Swenson looking to stop the damage, but one successful bunt led to two bad throws, one at home plate and another in a rundown between first and second. Two runs scored, and GC went down in order in the bottom half.

Luc Scudellari, the left-handed senior from Roswell, started Game 2 Saturday for the Bobcats and pitched six scoreless innings. In that span, Scudellari struck out three, walked three and scattered three hits and got a double play turned by his infield combination of Sapp at second base and Dominic Arienzo at shortstop in the fourth inning.

The run support started in the bottom of the second inning, two runs scoring with two outs. Ham singled and Arienzo dropped a ball short of the centerfielder's dive. It was a double for Arienzo, and from the No. 1 spot in the order freshman Evan Cowan hit a ball that tipped off the shortstop's glove. That was two RBI for Cowan.

Sapp got the next RBI on a single scoring Bellflower in the home fourth.

After the big output on Friday, the Nighthawk offense didn't arrive Saturday until the seventh. Freshman Lex Kenny was called out of the bullpen after two errors, and he walked his first hitter to load the bases. Another error resulted in two runs, but Kenny got his team out of the seventh still ahead 3-2.

Georgia College batters, just like Sunday, faced numerous relief pitchers over the last two innings. In the eighth, they set up Ham's big hit with two walks and a pop-up from Hunter Baker, a North Carolina senior. That ball was in foul ground, but the winds of the weekend blew it back in fair space as it landed untouched on the grass.

Ham then upped the score to 6-2.

Kenny pitched the save despite giving up one run on two hits in the top of the ninth.

Friday was all North Georgia with one run on two hits and a walk in the second inning and Frost's solo home run leading off the third. Georgia College had just three hits over the first four innings, and Sapp had a home run stolen on a leaping catch at the wall by freshman Andrews Opata.

Arienzo drove in the first Bobcat run in the fifth inning after Trevor Knowles' double, so it was 2-1 as the game moved to the sixth. The Nighthawks had two runners on with one out when Belcher went from starter Josh Hudgins to Goodwin. Bowen greeted him with a first-pitch RBI double. That was followed by Frost's two-run single. North Georgia then got deep doubles from Tim Conway and Connor Frost, all for three RBI and a lead of 8-1.

Baker and Knowles also hit baseballs deep for GC, back-to-back solo home runs in the seventh. But the hosts had just two more baserunners the rest of the game. The Nighthawks scored four in the top of the ninth on three hits and a throwing error.

Georgia College's April schedule will conclude with USC-Aiken April 21-23 and Columbus State April 28-30, both at home.