DAHLONEGA, GA. – The Queens University of Charlotte baseball team (4-5) suffered their third straight loss on Friday night to the No. 19 North Georgia Nighthawks (6-1) despite an unbelievable pitching performance from starting pitcher
Nick Charleson. The lone run of the evening came on a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to propel the home team past the Royals.
The senior right hander went toe-to-toe with the Nighthawks tossing 7.1 innings while fanning 10 batters. Charleson surrendered one run across five hits and the only run came on a solo home run in the eighth inning. North Georgia starting pitcher Cade Heil won the pitching duel hurling a complete game shutout with five strikeouts.
Despite only knocking four hits on the evening, the Royals had an opportunity in the third to strike first. A two-out single from
Zach Weston set the way for a
Riley Cheek walk before
Carter Foster singled which loaded the bases. The Nighthawks would open up their playbook as Heil picked off Cheek at second to escape the jam.
Queens would go down in order during the fourth and fifth innings before
Riley Cheek singled snapping a streak of seven Royals retired. A double play would end the Royals second scoring opportunity. Through the first four innings, North Georgia would get a runner on in each inning, but Royals starter
Nick Charleson locked in to work around the baserunners.
Neither team managed to get their offense going again until the Nighthawks smacked a one-out home run into left field ending Charleson's outing. Queens would get a two-out walk from
Nick Brassington in the ninth, but a pop up to shortstop ended the game as the Royals dropped a tough battle with the nationally ranked Nighthawks.
Four different Royals notched a hit on the evening, including
Riley Cheek,
Carter Foster,
Nick Melton, and
Zach Weston. A single in the eighth inning from
Nick Melton extended the juniors hitting streak to seven games.
The Royals will stay on the road for game two tomorrow, Feb. 19. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Be sure to follow the Royals baseball program on
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Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest news and updates. Fans can also follow Queens Athletics on social media @QueensAthletics to get updates on all things Royals Athletics.
