YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – Young Harris College opened its home baseball schedule at Zell B. Miller Field Saturday (Feb. 7) with a sweep of Shorter University.

The Mountain Lions, who improved to 3-2, won the opener 11-7 before taking the nightcap 6-5 over the Hawks, who fell to 0-2. The two teams wrap up the three-game series Sunday (Feb. 8) with a 1 p.m. contest.

After Shorter took a 4-0 lead through its first three at-bats, the Mountain Lions took control of the opener as they scored five runs in the bottom of the third. Blake Suggs got the Mountain Lions started with a bases-loaded walk before Troy Kizer smacked a grand slam over the left-center field wall to give Young Harris a 5-4 lead.

The Mountain Lions added a run an inning later on Kizer's RBI-single before scoring four times in the fifth to open a 10-4 lead. Zach Wall and Spencer Thomas hit back-to-back homers in the sixth. Wall's blast to left drove in three runs.

Young Harris scored its final run in the seventh on a RBI-single by Suggs.

The Mountain Lions banged out 13 hits that saw Suggs and Kizer collect three apiece while Jimmy Pinakidis and Wall had two each.

Justin Cooper (2-0) struck out five in six innings to pick up the win, while William Leatherwood earned the save with three innings of relief. Colton Cross (1-0) took the loss for Shorter.

With the score tied at 4 in the nightcap, the Mountain Lions took the lead for good in the sixth as Pinakidis drove in two with his triple down the right field line to give Young Harris a 6-4 lead. Shorter got a sacrifice fly in the eighth, but Cole Amtmann earned a save with three innings of relief.

Nick Sexton led YHC batters with three hits while Zach Odom and Brett Westmoreland each had two hits. Odom drove in two in the first with his homer to left field while Westmoreland had two RBI with his third-inning single.

Aaron Barfield (1-0) threw three pitches in relief and earned the win for YHC while Russell Crosby absorbed the loss for the Hawks.