DAHLONEGA, GA – Zach Daly homered twice, but North Georgia pounded out 11 hits and withstood a late rally to defeat Lander, 5-4, in Game 2 of their Peach Belt Conference series at Bob Stein Stadium on Saturday night.

NGU improves to 18-14 overall and 9-11 in the PBC, while Lander moves to 28-9, 16-7.

The Nighthawks' Steven Bower (4-2) was awarded the win after striking out five and allowing two earned runs on five hits in 5.0 innings pitched.

Lander's Sam Linn (4-1) took the loss with three strikeouts, one walk and five earned runs on 11 hits in 4.1 innings.

North Georgia went up 2-0 in the third inning on a sacrifice fly from Steven Tomlinson and an RBI single from Joshua Profit. The Bearcats tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the fifth inning on a two-run homer from Daly, his 13th of the season.

The Nighthawks answered in the bottom of the fifth with back-to-back RBI singles from Sam Tidaback and Trevor Sams. A sacrifice fly from Ryan Tomita pushed North Georgia's lead to 5-2.

Tripper Ergle kept the game in reach for the Bearcats, coming on in relief and allowing no runs and no hits while striking out six in 3.2 innings. 

Lander rallied in the seventh inning, trimming the deficit to 5-3 on Daly's second homer of the night. After Thomas Berry was hit by a pitch and John Mangum walked, Alex Conaway singled up the middle to score Berry from second and pull the Bearcats within a run. 

However, Lander would strand two runners on base in the eighth inning and go down in order in the ninth as the Nighthawks sealed the win. 

For the Bearcats, Jones batted 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored, while Conaway was 2-for-5 with an RBI. 

Tidaback led North Georgia, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored.