DAHLONEGA, GA – The North Georgia baseball team’s weekend series victory at Georgia College & State University has jumped the Saints 12 spots to No. 15 in the latest Collegiate Baseball Magazine NCAA Division II top 30 poll.

The Saints were ranked No. 24 in the first poll of the season, before breaking back into the rankings last week at No. 27, and continue to move up the poll, now sitting at No. 15 in the country. North Georgia’s last top 15 ranking came exactly a year ago when the Saints came in at No. 7 in the nation on March 9, 2009.

North Georgia is currently sitting at 13-6 overall and 4-2 in the Peach Belt Conference after taking two of three from GCSU over the weekend in Milledgeville, Georgia. The Saints captured the first two games of the weekend by a combined 18 runs, but the Bobcats came out in the finale and shut down the North Georgia offense for a 7-0 victory.

The series finale loss to GCSU broke up a five-game win-streak for the Saints who won a pair of mid-week games at the University of West Florida. North Georgia drilled the Argonauts 18-0 in the opener before scoring five straight runs to come back and sweep the two-game series with a 6-4 victory in the finale.

North Georgia has now won eight of their last 10 games, going 7-2 on the road this season, while sitting in second place in the Peach Belt Conference west division standings. Georgia Southwestern tops the standings at 3-0 as a showdown between the Saints and Hurricanes is set for this weekend at Bob Stein Stadium.

Four other league teams appear in the poll this week as Columbus State moves up two spots to No. 6 in the rankings, while Francis Marion falls seven spots to No. 9, while UNC Pembroke comes in at No 18, and USC Aiken jumps back into the poll at No. 22. Georgia Southwestern, Georgia College & State University, and Armstrong Atlantic received all received votes but were not ranked.

Chad Sage continues to lead the Saints at the plate, hitting a blistering .420 with eight home runs, 29 runs batted in, and 26 runs scored, while Chris Rearick leads the weekend staff with a perfect 4-0 record and an earned run average of 3.00. He has 39 strikeouts in 36.0 innings of work and has allowed just six free passes while opponents are hitting .226 against him.