Georgia Highlands drops home finale'

Georgia Highlands baseball was edged 4-3 by visiting South Georgia State CC Tuesday in a Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association contest at LakePoint in Emerson. The game was the Chargers' regular season home finale'. The Hawks took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Justin Brooks and never trailed, although the game was close throughout.

South Georgia extended its lead to 3-0 on a J.T. Rice two-run home run in the sixth, but the Chargers made it 3-2 in the bottom of the frame on back-to-back home runs by Skylar McPhee and Malik Spratling. Brooks singled home the Hawks’ fourth run in the seventh and Georgia Highlands answered with a run to make the score 4-3 when Hunter Moody and Lavoisier Fisher singled prior to Moody crossing the plate on a wild pitch.

The Chargers did not manage another base runner until the bottom of the ninth with no outs, but a pop up and a double play ended any potential threat.

Landon Nevill (7 IP, 3ER, 6H, 2BB, 7K) started on the mound for South Georgia and picked up the win. Matt Thompson (0.2 IP) was credited with a ninth inning save.

Ethan Underwood (6.1 IP, 4ER, 9H, 1BB, 2K) started for Georgia Highlands and suffered the pitching loss. Trace Twardoski (1.2 IP, 0R, 0H) and Levi Ayers (1 IP, 0R, 0H) pitched in relief for the Chargers.

The Hawks improved to 25-26 overall and 11-17 in the GCAA.

Georgia Highlands (29-23, 15-14) plays its final regular season game Saturday afternoon at Andrew College.

The Chargers have qualified for the GCAA post-season tournament May 8-10 at the former Darton State Field which is now a satelite campus for Albany State University.