DAHLONEGA, Ga. – The University of South Carolina Aiken baseball team dropped a doubleheader to North Georgia Saturday afternoon.

The contests ended with scores of 5-3 and 6-5 against the Pacers.

USC Aiken is now 13-7 on the season and 5-3 in league play. The Nighthawks sit at 15-4 overall and 6-2 in the PBC.

In the opener, the Pacers trailed 2-0 after the first inning but plated their first run in the top of the third.

With one out, Jackson Hannon slammed a double to right center and then grabbed third on a passed ball. After another batter went down, Trey Polewski weaved a double down the left field line to bring Hannon home and make it 2-1 against the Pacers.

Despite North Georgia gaining another run in the bottom of the third, the Pacers fought back to grab a run in the top of the sixth. With a man down, Polewski flew a homer over left field to make it 3-2 in the Nighthawks' favor.

With the Nighthawks picking up two more runs across the sixth and seventh, USC Aiken attempted a comeback in the top of the ninth. Alex Mills started things off with a morale-boosting home run straight up center field. Though the Pacers used the momentum to grab two more singles and move a man over to third base, the game ended in a 5-3 North Georgia victory.

For the game, Polewski had two hits and drove in two while Mills, Hannon, Conner Durden, Chandler Rogers, Cary Holloway and Philip Watcher all had one hit apiece. Daniel Wiggins got the starting nod on the mound, working six innings and striking out three.

In game two, Watcher got the Pacers on the board in the top of the third inning. After he slapped a single through the left side, he was pushed over to second on a sacrifice bunt by Rogers and then grabbed third on a passed ball. Hannon proceeded to ground out, giving Watcher the opportunity to come across home plate and make it 2-1 against the Pacers.

USC Aiken continued to fight back in the top of the sixth, putting up two more runs. Hannon slammed a leadoff double and then moved over to third on an error in right field. He then came across home on Sean McQuillan's follow-up single to right field. McQuillan quickly stole second and was brought over to third when Polewski bopped a single out to right. A batter later, McQuillan capitalized on Durden's ground out and came home to make it 4-3 against USC Aiken.

After North Georgia gained another run in the seventh, the Pacers tied things up in the top of the eighth with two more runs of their own. With McQuillan grabbing a walk and Polewski and Blake Bottomley each putting down singles, Durden grabbed an RBI on a ground out that allowed McQuillan to score. When Mills was intentionally walked, Blake Jenkins stepped up with a sacrifice fly to bring Polewski in and make it a 5-5 game.

Despite USC Aiken's best efforts, the Nighthawks managed to bring in a final run in the bottom of the ninth to end the game at 6-5 against the Pacers.

For the game, Watcher grabbed three hits while McQuillan and Polewski had two hits apiece. Bottomley and Hannon had one hit each.

Zach Rafuse worked five frames while striking out seven and walking three. Jon Yarbrough threw two innings with two strikeouts while Henry Cartrett tossed 1.2 innings and had three strikeouts.

The Pacers return to action tomorrow for the final game of the series with North Georgia at 1 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at PacerSports.com.