THOMASVILLE, Ga. – It took extras innings to do so, but the Thomas University baseball team starts their 2015 season with the 11-9 victory over Middle Georgia off a three-run walk off homerun in the bottom of the ninth inning.
 
Red-shirt junior Neal Hunter got the start for the Night Hawks on their opening day at Varendoe Stadium.  The 6-foot-1 Lake Mary, Fla., native pitched 4.1 innings striking out seven of his 24 batters faced.
 
The Night Hawks jumped out to the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Josh Bruijn lined a single to left field scoring Jalbert Melo from second.  Previously, Melo reached on a six pitch walk.  The Knights evened the score in the top of the second when designated hitter Jeremie Little lined a chopper to right-center to score Peyton Kell.  Middle Georgia continued their offensive onslaught plating four Knights in the top of the third.  With the bases load, center fielder Logan Smith hit a grand slam on a 3-2 count over the right field wall.  This increased the Knights lead to 5-1.  In the bottom of the third, the Night Hawks cut the Knights' lead to three when Jake Desuyo scored on a sacrifice fly by Kaleb Holbrook.
 
After a silent fourth inning by both squads, the Knights increased their lead to 7-2 off of two Night Hawk errors.  The sixth inning was the turning point of the game for the Night Hawks. The squad plated four runs on four hits and one error.  The Knights' lead was now cut to one, 7-6, after six. 
 
Heading into the final inning, Middle Georgia's Clint Wynn homered over the left-center field wall on the first pitch he saw from Night Hawk relief pitcher Justin Hicks.  This run gave a jolt to the Knights who believed it was the insurance run they needed.  Later in the inning, Smith would line out to Thomas' center fielder Brandon Singer to end the inning with an 8-6 advantage in favor of Middle Georgia.
 
The insurance run, however, was not enough.  The Night Hawks pulled together to score the tying run, 8-8, after MGSC's relief pitcher Josh Massengale hit three batters.
 
Middle Georgia jumped back into the lead in top of the ninth when Wynn hit his second homerun of the day to give the Knights the 9-8 lead.
 
With their back against the wall, the Night Hawks rallied in the bottom of the ninth.  The Knights brought in Josh Barron for the save.  With two outs, Desuyo singled down the third base line and then advanced to second when Melo reached on a seven pitch walk.  Bruijn, who batted in the first run of the game, finished off the game in heroic fashion hitting a three-run walk off shot over the left-center field wall giving the Night Hawks the 11-9 victory.
 
"Our guys did a great job today sticking in there when we were down," stated head coach Mike Lee. "They stayed patient and kept their composure when it was needed most. This is a great way to start off the season. We will get back at it tomorrow."
 
Hicks picks up his first win of the year while MGSC's Barron suffers the loss.

The Night Hawks return to action on Sunday, Feb. 1 when they wrap up their three game series against Middle Georgia State College.  The suspended game from this evening's action will continue at noon with the series finale to follow 30 minutes after the conclusion of game two.

For up-to-date information on this game and other TU Athletics, visit http://www.TUNightHawks.com.  Stay up-to-date with news, scores, photos, game summaries, play-by-play, and feature stories of your TU men's basketball team by following them via Twitter at @NightHawkBaseba.