THOMASVILLE, Ga. – The Thomas University men's baseball team swept the Rams of Bluefield College (1-3) this afternoon in double header action at Varendoe Stadium.  The Night Hawks (6-2) took game one in a come from behind 6-5 victory while they captured an early lead in game two and held off the Rams for the 6-4 win.
 
Josh Bruijn's bat was the story for the day.  The 6-foot-4 red-shirt senior crushed two homeruns, one in each game.  The Tallahassee, Fla., native now leads the NAIA in home runs (5) and home runs per game (.625).  So far this season, the first baseman has collected 12 RBIs in his eight games of work.
 
In game one, the Rams took the early 1-0 lead in the top of the second before extending the gap to 2-0 in the third.  The Night Hawks powered back to plate one run in the bottom of the third before taking the 4-2 lead with three runs in the bottom of the fourth.  Bruijn started off the inning with a home run, and the momentum continued when Kaleb Holbrook singled up the middle.  A Rams error by Tyler Timmer allowed Jeremy Crosby to reach putting two Night Hawks on base.  Crosby would later score on a single by center fielder Brandon Singer.  Next, designated Corey Conway would hit a sacrifice fly to right-center field to plate Leo Benjamin for the fourth Night Hawk run.
 
The Rams would rally back in the top of the fifth to tie the game at 4-4 and then later take a 5-4 lead in the top of the sixth.  Heading into their final six outs, the Night Hawks regrouped and came out swinging in the bottom of the sixth.  Bluefield's relief pitcher Dylan Cole came on in relief and surrendered the go ahead runs in the bottom of the sixth.
 
Benjamin started the inning off with a double to the right-center field wall.  Brent Slaughter would come in as a pinch runner and would later score on a suicide squeeze by Jake Desuyo to tie the game at 5-5.  On a three-two count, second baseman Jalbert Melo knocked in the go ahead run with a double off the left field wall.  Codey Conway picked up his first win of the 2015 season after shutting out the Rams in the top of the seventh to seal the 6-5 victory.
 
Game two almost mirrored game one's results with the Night Hawks defeating the Rams in a 6-4 thriller.  Once again, the Rams took the 1-0 in the top of the first just to have Thomas reply with three runs in the bottom frame.  Casey Mannion would knock in the first run of the game on a one out double to deep left field scoring Desuyo from first.  The shortstop previously reached when he was hit by Bluefield's pitcher on the fifth pitch of the game. Two pitches later, Bruijn's bat once again propelled the Night Hawks into the lead.  On 1-1 count, Bruijn sent a fastball over the left field fence.  This hit was Bruijn's fifth home run of the season.
 
The Night Hawks would pick up their fourth run of the game in the bottom of the third when Melo hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Desuyo from third.  Desuyo led the inning off with a triple to the left-center field backstop.  Bluefield responded in the top of the fourth to cut Thomas' lead to one, 4-3, before the Night Hawks once again increased their lead, 6-3, in the bottom of the fifth.  Starter Chad Jones, who picked up his second win of the season, was pulled from the game after 76 pitches and 4.0 innings of work.  He struck out three of the 21 batters faced only allowing five hits.  Jordan Sopotnick came on in relief and pitched two scoreless and hitless innings shutting down all six batters he faced.
 
The Rams would not go down without a fight and tried to rally in their final three outs of the game.  While Bluefield did knock in one run, their comeback was stalled when closer Kris Lee forced two fly balls to shut the Rams down.  Jones picked up the win and Lee converted his first save of the season while Bluefield's Houchins was handed the loss.
 
"We picked up two quality wins today against a great team," stated head coach Mike Lee. "Our guys were in sync with our game plan and connected at the plate.  Conference starts this weekend, and we are going to prepare for it starting tomorrow."
 
The Night Hawks return to action on Friday, Feb. 13 when they travel to Miami Gardens, Fla., to face St. Thomas University in a three game set. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m.  The second game will take place 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first contest. The Night Hawks will wrap up the series with a rubber game on Saturday, Feb. 14 starting at 12 p.m.
 
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.