DAHLONEGA, Ga. - The Anderson baseball team opened a brief two-game nonconference road swing with a 7-1 setback to North Georgia, Tuesday night at Bob Stein Stadium.

Anderson fell to 13-20 on the season, while North Georgia improved to 17-13.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Right-fielder Garrett Bernardo recorded two of the Trojans' four hits on the night, with sophomore Zach McIlroy adding a double. Freshman Carson Barrett and sophomore Tyler Miller also posted singles.

Junior Thomas Smith (2-3) took the loss after surrendering four earned runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings of work. The right-hander walked four and struck out one.

HOW IT HAPPENED
North Georgia took advantage of a pair of walks to load the bases with no outs in the top of the first inning and while Smith induced the Nighthawks to bounce into a double play for the first two outs, they followed with a run-scoring double to take an early two-run lead.

AU posted two-out singles in each of the first three innings, but was unable to take advantage, while the Nighthawks added a solo run on a one-out sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth inning to increase their lead to 3-0.

Bernardo led off the top of the fifth inning with the Trojans' fourth hit of the night and McIlroy followed with an opposite-field double, with McKnight reaching on a walk to load the bases with no outs. Bailey then grounded out to plate Bernardo with the Black and Gold's only run of the night.

North Georgia built its lead to 4-1 with another solo run in bottom of the fifth and added a pair of runs on a two-run homer with no outs in the sixth frame.

The Nighthawks got their first two runners on in the bottom of the seventh and pushed the advantage to 7-1 with another solo run.

ANDERSON STAT OF THE NIGHT
McIlroy posted a 1.000 slugging percentage by going 1-for-2, with a double and a walk.

NOTABLES
• Barrett has reached base safely in seven of his last eight games.
• LJ Newman saw his seven-game hitting streak come to an end.
• Miller has six hits and five walks over the last seven contests and has reached base safely in 19 of the last 20 games.
• The Trojans have dropped two of their last three outings.
• The Nighthawks improved to 13-1 versus the Trojans over the last seven seasons and swept the season series.
• North Georgia notched three stolen bases on the night.

UP NEXT
The Trojans wrap up their brief two-game road swing by visiting Southern Wesleyan on Wednesday. AU will be looking to claim its first win of the season over SWU after falling 15-10 and 16-11 to the Warriors at Memorial Stadium earlier this season.