DAHLONEGA, Ga. – No. 27 North Georgia mashed four home runs to cap a three-game sweep of Carson-Newman with a 17-0 victory Sunday afternoon at Bob Stein Stadium.
It is the second straight season that North Georgia (3-0) picks up a series sweep against Carson-Newman (0-3) in the season's first weekend series for each team as the Nighthawks extend their winning streak to eight against the Eagles.
"Our ego and pride gets kicked," Carson-Newman coach Tom Griffin said. "It's easy to get angry and disappointed. As a coach you start to learn through the years that as a competitor it hurts but you can't sulk about it. You have to figure out what we have to do differently. They were coached much better this weekend. We just have not prepared our guys well enough. I think in the box we didn't have a good enough plan."
The Nighthawks opened the scoring in the bottom of the second as they loaded the bases on a single, hit batter and a walk with no one out. Devin Gearhart hit a slow roller to third base in which the Eagles could not get an out and left everyone safe to open the scoring. Back-to-back ground outs allowed two more UNG players to cross the plate and make it a 3-0 game after two frames.
Michael Bell started the bottom of the third inning whacking a 0-2 offering over the left-field fence for a home run to push the home club's advantage to 4-0.
Two walks a hit batter loaded the bases for North Georgia in the bottom of the sixth inning. Michael Gouge shoveled a base hit back up the middle to plate a pair of teammates. The next batter, Trevor Sams, clobbered a 2-0 offering well over the fence in left-center field for a three-run blast to push the lead to 9-0.
Following a ground out to start the last of the seventh, Steven Tomlinson blasted a solo home run to left field. Andres Perez tripled to the wall in right field on the next pitch and Gearhart drew a walk. Connor Hoover doubled to the gap in the left center and came in to score on a wild pitch later in the frame making it 13-0 UNG.
Joshua Profit pinch hit to begin the bottom of the eighth stanza on a ball that reached the center field fence. A ground out to first base allowed Profit to cross the dish. A base hit and an error put two on base for Hoover as the shortstop sliced a home run just inside of the fair pole down the left-field line.
Carson-Newman mustered a total of six hits on the day as senior Paul Kirby (Goodlettsville, Tenn.) and redshirt-sophomore Brendan Campbell (Yardley, Pa.) each tallied two knocks.
Hoover finished the day 3-for-5 with six RBIs and three runs scored. Gouge and Sams each notched three RBIs.
Left-hander Daniel McCrary (1-0) tossed 6 1/3 scoreless innings striking out seven while allowing five hits and two walks.
The 17 runs allowed are the most since yielding 17 in a 17-9 loss to Wingate in the opening game of the South Atlantic Conference Championships on April 23, 2015. The 17-run setback is the largest since falling to Lincoln Memorial on April 16, 2011 20-3.
The Eagles will go for their first win of 2017 Wednesday afternoon at Limestone for a 2 p.m. contest versus the Saints. Broadcast coverage commences at 1:50 p.m. with "The Appalchian Electric Cooperative Countdown to First Pitch" on cneagles.com/live courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network.
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