Boxscore: http://www.gcbobcats.com/sports/bsb/2015-16/boxscores/20160304_o2st.xml

By: Michael Hokanson, Sports Information Assistant

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – Georgia College Baseball (8-7, 4-3 PBC) started the weekend series at John Kurtz Field against the No. 16 University of North Georgia Nighthawks (11-5, 4-3 PBC) with a win, 5-1.

Starting pitcher Bradley Spinner (Roswell) kept the Nighthawks scoreless in their first three innings before giving up a run during his final inning in the game. While Spinner allowed five hits tonight, he only gave up the single run and left the field with the first win of his career. Relievers Bryce Bush (Phoenix, Arizona) and Cameron Busby (Grovetown) posted scoreless innings the remainder of the contest, and Busby was tagged with the save. Bush went two innings with two strikeouts and two hits, while Busby threw the final three, fanning a pair and allowing just two hits as well.

The Bobcats were the first to put runs on the board after keeping the Nighthawks scoreless for three innings. A third-inning double to left center from second baseman Dylan Cook (Portola Valley, California) sent two teammates home before North Georgia earned their first run in the fourth. After a scoreless fifth, Georgia College added another run before another scoreless inning in the seventh. The Bobcats got their final two runs in the eighth when a home run by catcher Brandon Purcell (Glennville) but him and Cook across the plate. The Nighthawks faced a final scoreless inning before the Bobcats claimed the first game of the weekend, 5-1.

Cook and Purcell led the game in RBIs, each earned two apiece. Georgia College rightfielder Matthew Miller (Escondido, California) recorded one of his own when sent in a run with a single in the sixth. Wesley Wommack (Monroe), Cook, Tanner Giesel (Naperville, Illinois) and John Davis (Marietta) each went 2-for-4 in today's action.

This marks the second-straight weekend Bobcat Baseball has upset a nationally-ranked opponent on Friday night. Georgia College beat then-No. 8 USC Aiken in two of three last weekend. 

The Bobcats continue the weekend series against North Georgia when the teams take the field tomorrow, March 5, at 2 p.m. for game two.

The Georgia College Department of Athletics, two-time winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup, sponsors 11 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at @GCBobcats on all social media formats for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit GCBobcats.PhotoReflect.com to purchase photo prints from home athletic contests.