Fourth-seeded Point University beat both regular-season champions Saturday in Kingsport, Tenn., to win the Appalachian Athletic Conference baseball tournament and an automatic spot in the NAIA national opening round. After topping ninth-ranked Bryan 7-4, the Skyhawks edged No. 19 Tennessee Wesleyan 6-5 in 16 innings. Point (33-23) won five games in a 49-hour span, and the last of those was the equivalent of almost two games. Mario Archibold was 3-for-5 with two home runs and three RBIs and Dayton Cook also had three hits for Point in the final, after Cook was 3-for-4 with two homers, three RBIs and three runs scored and Carnegy Calzado was 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs against Bryan (40-15). The Lions’ Trevor Behrent was 1-for-2 with two runs and an RBI, while Wade Weinburger had two hits and an RBI, Fernando Garcia had an RBI double and Jacob Justice was 2-for-4. For TWU (37-19), Alfred Cruz was 4-for-6 with a homer and two RBIs and Grant Lang was 4-for-7 with a double and an RBI. Brantley Flanagan allowed only one hit in five innings of relief pitching.
‘ The scheduled first day of the Gulf South Conference baseball tournament at Cleveland, Miss., was rained out Saturday, so Lee University now plays Montevallo at 6 EDT tonight, West Florida at 11 a.m. Monday and West Georgia on Tuesday.
Softball
‘ Lee’s softball season ended at 28-28 when the GSC tournament was stopped Saturday by rain in Florence, Ala. Host North Alabama and Valdosta State were declared co-champions and UNA got the GSC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division II nationals. Lee was 1-1 in the tournament.
‘ The University of North Georgia is ranked No. 1 in Division II and is 56-2 after breezing to the Peach Belt tournament championship in Dahlonega with two 8-0 wins and a 4-0 defeat Saturday of Columbus State, and catcher Shelby Hammontree from Heritage High School made the all-tournament team and is one of the Nighthawks’ three All-PBC first-team players. In the tournament she was 3-for-3 with a two-run double and two runs scored against Georgia Southwestern, 1-for-3 against Landers and 1-for-2 with a two-run homer against CSU.