HUNTSVILLE | The University of Alabama in Huntsville baseball team took both games of a doubleheader against rival North Alabama on Saturday afternoon at Charger Park by scores of 12-1 and 8-6. UAH improves to 21-13 (13-7 GSC), while UNA dips to 15-16 (8-12 GSC).
 
Game one
After a scoreless frame from both sides in the first inning, North Alabama was able to take the first lead of the game with a solo home run by Taylor Hayes in the top of the second off UAH starting pitcher Wilson Adams.
 
However, that would be the lone run of the contest surrendered by Adams, and UAH would knot the game at 1-1 as Wright Hackett scored on a wild pitch after leading off the bottom of the second with a triple to right-center.
 
The Blue and White added to its lead in the third with Austin Sanders launching a two-run homer to extend the advantage to 3-1.
 
UAH would go scoreless in the fourth, followed by an eruption for a nine-run rally in the bottom of the fifth, highlighted by a two-run homer from Ben Rhodes, to take a commanding 12-1 lead.
 
Adams finished off the game – which ended in seven innings – with scoreless frames in the sixth and seventh en route to the 12-1 victory. The right-hander tossed the full 7.0 innings with one run allowed, 10 strikeouts and two walks to improve his season record to 6-2.
 
Sanders led the way for the UAH offense with a 3-for-4 performance with three runs scored and three RBI, while Rhodes also added three hits with one run and two RBI.
 
Game two
North Alabama again took the first lead of the game in the night cap on Saturday as the Lions capitalized on early struggles by UAH starting pitcher Chris Kilpatrick with two runs in the top of the first.
 
Undeterred, the Chargers put together a four-run rally in the bottom half of the first to overtake the Lions lead at 4-2. Trey Mathis started the rally with a bases-loaded, two-RBI single up the middle, followed by a RBI sac bunt by Justin Cantrell and a RBI single to left by Rhodes.
 
UAH maintained its two-run advantage over the visitors as Kilpatrick settled down to record zeroes in the second and third innings, with the Blue and White extending its lead to 5-2 with a RBI ground out by Sanders in the bottom of the second.
 
However, North Alabama was able to knot the game at 5-5 with a trio of runs in the top of the fourth, with two of the runs tagged to Kilpatrick and one to reliever Logan Crook.
 
The Chargers quickly regained the lead at 7-5 with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the fourth as Walden notched a RBI single and Sanders scored from third on Walden's stolen base attempt.
 
UNA was able to draw within one with a single run in the sixth, but Sanders negated that tally with a solo homer down the right field line in the bottom half to again put UAH ahead two runs at 8-6.
 
Taylor Clemons – who relieved Crook to retire the side in the sixth – finished off the game with a scoreless seventh to total his fourth save of the season. Crook improved to 3-2 on the year with the victory.
 
The two teams will wrap up the three-game series tomorrow at Charger Park at 1 p.m., with the Chargers looking to record their second consecutive series sweep of UNA after taking all three games in Florence in the 2015 campaign.