Box Score

DAHLONEGA, GA – The bats came alive for the North Georgia baseball team in their weekend finale against Bellarmine University, scoring 13 runs on 19 hits on their way to a 13-10 victory over the Knight at Bob Stein Stadium in non-conference action.

The Saints take three of four from the Knights, improving to 6-4 on the season, while Bellarmine University takes just one game over the weekend and fall to 2-5 on the year.

North Georgia jumped on top in the opening inning for the second straight game, using an RBI double of the bat of Andre Airich, while Troy Snitker legged out an infield single later in the inning to bring Airich home for a 2-0 lead.

Bellarmine’s Kalvin Scheler doubled home a run of his own in the third inning, cutting the North Georgia lead in half, but the Saints responded with seven runs over the next three innings to break the game wide open.

In the last of the third, Snitker singled home a run to set up another long opposite field blast off the bat of Brad Hall, sending three run shot just to left of the scoreboard to give the Saints a 6-1 lead. Jordan Erisman tripled home another run in the fourth, bringing Kenny Bellavance racing to the plate, while North Georgia added two more in the fifth to take a commanding 9-1 lead.

Bellarmine came back with a pair of runs in the sixth off North Georgia starter Blake Hobby, using three straight hits, including a double by Todd Duckworth to plate a run and make it a 9-3 lead for the Saints.

Chad Sage unloaded on his team-leading fourth home run of the year in the last of the sixth inning, going the other way and clearing the fence to score Airich and give the Saints an 11-3 lead. Sage made the home run inning successful in back-to-back days as Ronnie Snitker was the contestant and winner in the home run inning, presented by Caruso’s Italian American Grill.

Erisman added to his stellar day in the seventh with a two-out single up the middle, plating another run to give the Saints a 12-3 advantage. Bellarmine added five runs in the eight inning, loading the bases with two outs and notching back-to-back singles to bring two runs home and cut the North Georgia lead to seven at 12-5, before Braxton Graven cleared the bases with a double to right field, capping the five-run inning and making it 12-8.

After the Saints added a single run in the eighth, Bellarmine refused to go down easy in the ninth, tallying four hits and pushing across two runs as North Georgia escaped with the 13-10 victory.

Hobby (2-0) pitched in traffic all day as the sophomore picked up his second victory of the year, going 7.2 innings and allowing 13 hits and three earned runs while striking out three and walking two. 

The Saints return to action on Tuesday afternoon, traveling to Anderson College to take on the Trojans in non-conference action. First pitch is set for 4:00 p.m. in Anderson, South Carolina. Can’t make the game? Follow all the action at the home of the Saints with live audio and pitch-by-pitch live stats.