Baseball team wins PBC regular-season title

The University of North Georgia (UNG) baseball team has won its first outright Peach Belt Conference (PBC) regular-season championship since 2017 and opens the PBC tournament at 1 p.m. May 1 against No. 8 seed Middle Georgia at Bob Stein Stadium in Dahlonega, Georgia.

Under the PBC tournament format, No. 1 seed UNG and No. 2 seed Lander are hosting double-elimination brackets May 1-3, with the winners meeting May 7-8 in a best-of-three PBC championship series.

UNG finished the regular season 38-12 overall and 26-4 in PBC play after winning two of three games at USC Aiken, which entered the final weekend of PBC action in second place.

First-year head coach Nolan Belcher, who spent the previous five seasons as the head coach at Georgia College & State University, said he has enjoyed seeing his team come together.

"The guys have just been really consistent. They show up every day ready to work, and they've bought into what we're trying to do. We've played clean baseball for the most part, thrown strikes, made the routine plays, and had some timely hits," Belcher said. "We have had many injuries on the pitching side, and new guys continue to step up and take on bigger roles. Offensively, it hasn't been one guy carrying us. It's been a different guy stepping up on different nights."

Now the Nighthawks shift into the postseason as they seek their second-ever PBC tournament title and first since 2008. They were ranked No. 19 nationally and No. 4 in the Southeast Region last week, putting them in strong position to earn a second consecutive NCAA tournament bid and the fifth in 19 opportunities at the Division II level.

"This is what you work for all year. At the same time, the message doesn't really change. We've got to keep playing the way we have been," Belcher said. "Our group is confident, they trust each other, and they're looking forward to the opportunity."

UNG won all 10 of its PBC series, including six sweeps. The Nighthawks compiled an 18-4 road record in the regular season, including a 14-1 mark in PBC road games.

Kyle Robitzsch leads UNG with a .392 batting average, with Ben Hamacher batting .379. Cam Hodge has 66 RBI, with Robitzsch tallying 48 and Hamacher 36.

Andrew Duval, Matthew Heard and Kevin Cox have each earned at least six pitching victories this season.