MOBILE- The Night Hawks faced off in a doubleheader against the Mobile Rams in the SSAC Series of the Week on Saturday afternoon.

Thomas came out swinging in game one, as Gabe Tafelski sent one over the wall in the second to put them out in front early. However, an eight-run inning from the Rams in the bottom half gave the Night Hawks a tough road to climb. In the top half of third, the climb began as JT Whatley singled through left to score Tyler Marczak to cut the deficit down to six, but Mobile answered back with a couple of runs in the next half-inning to bring the lead back up to eight. The Night Hawks rallied with two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to make it a five-run margin, add another run in the sixth inning and the lead was down to four. The Rams scored three more runs in the bottom half to increase the lead to seven and Thomas could not respond, falling in game one.

The second game started like the first as the Night Hawks got on the board early with Cameron Tyson stealing third then coming home after a throwing error by the catcher. The Rams answered back with two runs in the third and one in the fourth to go up by two. But then in the fifth, Elias Garcia hit a double down the line to get on base and Tyson found the gap in left to advance Garcia to third. Next, Sam Waltimyer reached on a fielder’s choice to bring Garcia home. Max Pickert came up to bat and knocked a single through right and then JT Whatley broke the game open, going yard in left center to go up 5-3. Mobile regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a steal at home and a three-run shot. However, the next inning saw the offense find their footing as Michael Sowers hit one into the gap in left center for a double, placing him and Jackson Thomas into scoring position with no outs. Thomas scored on a balk and Sowers came home on a wild pitch to tie the game. Waltimyer layed down a bunt single, bringing up Pickert who drew a walk to take the lead, then Brayden Lawhon added a run of his own before the end of the inning. The Night Hawks added two more runs in the seventh to make it a five-run lead. Mobile tried to rally, but Thomas held on to win 12-8.

The win was a special one as Head Coach Tom Fleenor earned his 100th win in his tenure at Thomas University.

The Night Hawks will be on the road for their next game as they take on ABAC on Wednesday, February 19th at 3:00 p.m. before coming back home for a weekend series against No.21 Loyola.