DAHLONEGA, GA - The Emmanuel Lions Baseball team traveled to Dahlonega, GA  to play a non-conference region game against the 15^th ranked University of North Georgia Nighthawks.  

The Lion offense got going early as they quickly struck for two runs in the first on a Davis Roesler walk and an opposite field Home Run by R-Sophomore Reece Kingeter.  Parker Westbrook walked and stole a base in front of Alex Calabro's 2 strike single to give the Lions runners on the corners with two outs.  Calabro was caught stealing to end the rally in the top of the first. In the bottom of the first, junior switch pitcher, Zack Easton, worked his way into a little trouble with two walks and a hit by pitch but was able to avoid significant damage allowing only two sacrifice fly outs. After one, the game was tied at 2-2. 

 Wasting no time answering the Nighthawk score, the Emmanuel offense struck back in the top of the second inning.  Freshman Andrew Wilson drew a leadoff walk and moved to second as Jaden Madrid reached on an error to third base.  Both runners would advance on a wild pitch before scoring on Haidyn McGill's two strike single to center field, giving the Lions a 4-2 lead.  Lion lead-off batter, Chaz Encarnacion singled to left to push McGill into scoring position but the threat of a big inning was extinguished after a flyout and double play to end the inning.  Easton took the mound again in the bottom of the second inning and this time would make the lead stick as he struck out two batters and worked around a soft hit two out single.

With the Lions still holding a two run lead, senior left hander, Jacob Bodkin would take the mound in the third.  Bodkin walked the lead-off batter but was able to induce two ground outs before striking out the last batter of the inning to keep UNG off the board.  

In the top of the fourth Madrid doubled down the right field line and then moved to third on McGill's groundout.  Encarnacion was hit by a pitch and immediately stole second to put two runners in scoring position but the offense was unable to push any insurance runs across.  The bottom of the fourth saw freshman right hander Griffin Morris make his Lion debut and he wasted no time making his presence felt.  Morris faced four batters allowing a lone single and striking out two batters in a scoreless inning of work.  

After a leadoff single to start the bottom of the 5th for the Nighthawk, two quick outs had Hunter Maddox looking at a scoreless inning of work to match Morris and Bodkin.  However, a swinging bunt was misplayed and thrown away into the right field corner that allowed both the baserunner and batter to come in to score and tie the game at 4-4.

 After a one-two-three top of the sixth the Lions went to R-Freshman Matthew Delarber to try and keep the Nighthawks at bay.  He proved to be up to the task retiring all three batters faced in the sixth on three groundouts.  

With the game still tied, Roesler would reach base on a hard single to centerfield.  Within a few pitches he would steal second and move up to third on a wild pitch finding himself ninety feet away from giving the Lions the lead back.  Westbrook drew his second walk of the night and immediately stole his second base of the night.  With runners yet again at second and third the Nighthawk pitcher had Dee Oliver down to his last strike and looked to be on the verge of getting out of trouble again.  Oliver locked in and was able to hit a hard line drive in the hole at shortstop to score both runners and give the Lions the lead, 6-4.  With the Emmanuel offense now leading Delarber took the mound for his second inning of work.  Just as he did in the first inning Delarber would sit the Nighthawk offense down in order on a ground out, strike out and pop out to second base.  

The next pitcher to enter from the Lions bullpen was right hander Zach Evans.  Evans followed Delarber's example and quickly retired the first three batters he faced.  

Looking for insurance and some breathing room in the top of the ninth, Roesler tallied his second hit of the game, a double to right center field, to start the inning.  Kingeter would add his third RBI of the game with a single up the middle to score Roesler.  Pinch runner Nick McKoy stole second and moved to third on Westbrook's fly out to right. With a drawn in infield Oliver was able to drive a sacrifice fly to deep right field to score McKoy and extend the Lions lead to 8-4.  Evans struck out the first two batters he faced in the ninth before a weak infield single would see him give way to R-Sophomore Chase Lupton to try and put the game away.  The first batter Lupton faced was able to draw a walk and put the tying run in the on-deck circle with the heart of the Nighthawk line up due up.  Lupton made sure the threat wouldn't go any further as he was able to induce a weak grounder to Encarnacion at short stop for the force play at second base and give the Lions the road win over a top 25 opponent.  

The win was Coach Jeff Kilgore's 250^th win as the Head Coach of the Lions (270^th overall).  Kilgore had the following to say about the win and the milestone, "I am really proud of how our guys executed and competed tonight.  Our pitching staff did a great job, we played good defense and had timely hitting so it was a great team victory.  North Georgia is a really talented and extremely well coached team as evidenced by their national ranking.  Any time you can win on the road is big and anytime you can win against a ranked opponent is always exciting.  It is really awesome to be blessed to coach at my alma mater long enough to get 250 wins and to do it against my other alma mater where I received my Master's degree is pretty cool as well.  Hopefully we can ride the momentum into the weekend and play well as we host Southern Wesleyan who is also coming off a good midweek win."  

The Lions will host Southern Wesleyan in a conference matchup this Friday and Saturday in the Springs. First pitch on Friday is set for 5PM. 

For more information on Emmanuel University athletics, visit goeulions.com.