COLUMBUS – Columbus State University baseball welcomes longtime Peach Belt Conference foe North Georgia to Ragsdale Field this weekend for the first conference series of the season.
Schedule
Friday, Feb. 28 – 4 p.m. ET
Saturday, Mar. 1 – 2 p.m. ET
Sunday, Mar. 2 – 1 p.m. ET
Previewing the Cougars
The Cougars (7-5) are poised to open conference play on Friday, riding a four-game winning streak and a 3-0 start to the home schedule. Columbus State is coming off a 9-0 win over Middle Georgia on Tuesday as well as a 5-2 victory over Albany State on Wednesday.
CSU put together eight hits in each of the two games earlier this week and notched a total of three homers as well. Cayden Evans, Luke Miller, and Bryce Knox are the top three players at the dish in batting averages. Evans takes charger with a .444 average with 20 hits, four doubles, two homers, and nine RBIs. Miller follows with a .349 average, 15 hits, two triples and seven RBIs while Knox is batting .327 for 16 hits, a homer, and eight runs driven in.
So far this season, the trio of Ryan Suppa, Trace Goforth, and Eric Moore have been the weekend guys on the mound with the most innings tossed. Suppa holds a 3.63 ERA with 17.1 innings pitched, striking out 14 batters for a 2-1 record. Goforth follows with a 3.86 ERA and a 1-2 record while tossing for 14.0 innings and striking out a team-leading 18 batters. Lastly, Eric Moore has totaled the second-most innings with 13.0 innings pitched for a 6.92 ERA.
CSU took the last meeting against UNG in a 5-2 win in the PBC Quarterfinals, but the Night Hawks took the last series 2-1 in Dahlonega, Ga. a year ago.
Scouting the Night Hawks
North Georgia (9-5) is on a three-game high heading into PBC opening weekend, sweeping Georgia College in a non-conference series.
Andrews Opata leads UNG with a .444 batting average, slugging .730 for 28 hits, four doubles, one triple, four homers and 22 runs driven in. Jace Bowen and Phillip Ard also have produced 20+ hits with Ard gathering a team-leading 27 RBIs. In addition, PBC Freshman of the Week is coming off a big week going 6-of-13 against GCSU, collecting two hits in all three contests which included two homers.
The leading arms for UNG are Pierce Williams, Luke Earnhardt, and Dylan Noce. Williams has tossed for 20.1 innings and holds a 2.66 ERA with 23 strikeouts. Earnhardt has pitched for 19.2 innings and Noce has tossed for 17.1 with ERAs of 5.49 and 7.79, respectively.
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