DAHLONEGA, Ga. | Young Harris College scored three times in the top of ther 10th inning as the Mountain Lions opened their Peach Belt Conference Baseball Tournament semfinal series with a 10-7 win over their Blood Mountain rivals University of North Georgia Friday (May 7) evening at Bob Stein Stadium at Lynn Cottrell Park.

The third-seeded Mountain Lions improved to 23-16, while the No. 25 ranked and second-seeded Nighthawks fell to 28-13. 

The Mountain Lions take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series over North Georgia. The teams will play game two at 2 p.m. Saturday (May 8) with an if necessary game three to follow. The winner of the Young Harris-North Georgia series will take on the winner of the other semifinal between Columbus State University and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke in next weekend's PBC Tournament championship series.

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE:

• With the game tied at 8 after regulation, the Mountain Lions started their 10th inning rally with a one-out singles by Kyle Ayers and Noah Fitzgerald. Rome Wallace loaded the bases after being hit by a pitch. Cole Jackson followed with a sacrifice fly to the warning track in left-center field to give YHC an 8-7 lead. Brandon Jolliff added an RBI double down the left field line and Logan Worley accounted for the final run on a single through the left side.
• YHC reliever Brody Meeks (2-3) preserved the win after retiring the Nighthawks on a ground out and back-to-back swinging strikeouts.
• The Mountain Lions drew first blood in the fourth on a run-scoring ground out by Dahlton Cash; however, North Georgia took the lead with four runs in the bottom half of the inning.
• Wallace cut the deficit in half as his leadoff homer to straight away center field in the fifth trimmed UNG's advantage to 4-2. It was Wallace's 11th homer of 2021.
• Fitzgerald gave the Mountain Lions a 5-4 lead in the top of the eighth as he connected on sixth long ball of the season - a three-run homer to left.
• Worley added some insurance in the top of the ninth as he smacked a two-run homer to left center field to give Young Harris a 7-4 lead. It was his third blast of the year.
• North Georgia rallied for three runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at 7.
• YHC starter Chad Brown, who is the reigning PBC Pitcher of the Week as well as the NCBWA Southeast Region Pitcher of the Week, recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts in 8.2 innings.
• Worley and Fitzgerald each had three hits for the Mountain Lions, who had 12 in the game. Tucker Greer also had two hits for YHC.
• The Mountain Lions handed North Georgia only its second home loss of the season in 22 tries.
• It was the first extra inning affair in 25 career meetings between the Blood Mountain rivals.
• It was the first extra inning contest for the Nighthawks in 2021, while the Mountain Lions leveled their record to 2-2 in extra innings this season.

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