THOMASVILLE– In a crucial SSAC series for the Thomas Night Hawks, they split with the UT Southern Firehawks on Friday afternoon at Varnedoe Stadium.

Thomas put together a late rally but came up short, 4-6, in a loss to Tennessee Southern in Game 1 of Friday’s SSAC doubleheader.

The Night Hawks tallied 12 hits and cut a five-run deficit to two in the seventh inning, but UT Southern starter Ridge Raper induced a pair of groundouts to strand the tying run at the plate.

Cameron Tyson continued his strong campaign at the top of the lineup, going 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Max Pickert drove in two runs with a sacrifice fly and an RBI double, while Carson Thomas ripped a triple and scored in the third inning. Aidan Reyes and Tyler Marczak each added RBIs as Thomas scored twice in the final frame.

Thomas starter AJ Wydra gave up six runs—four earned—on 10 hits over seven innings. The Firehawks struck early with four runs in the second and tacked on two more in the sixth, powered by homers from Zach Chaney and Evan Nelson.

Despite the setback, Thomas turned two double plays defensively and saw contributions throughout the order, with seven different players recording hits.

Game two started just as fast UT Southern as the first game did as the Firehawks got on the board early thanks to a single from Brayden Buckner to score Cody Womble, then later on in the second Cole Barnett sent one yard and add in a walk with the bases loaded and the Night Hawks found themselves down 3-0 early.

In the fifth, Seth Waltimyer hit a infield single to second and then advanced on a throwing error, Elias Garcia knocked a single to short to advance Waltimyer to third, opening the door for Reyes to score Waltimyer on a fielder’s choice. Garcia then advanced to third on a wild pitch and then came home on throwing error by the catcher to put the Night Hawks one run away from tying the game.

Following a JT Whatley walk, Brayden Lawhon hit one into left and a throwing error by the left fielder advanced Lawhon to second and scored Whatley to tie the game at 3-3. The Firehawks responded in the top of sixth with a solo homer from Mason Billions to regain the lead, however the Night Hawks fired back as Michael Sowers led off the bottom half of the inning with a double, then Waltimyer brought Sowers home on a RBI single to knot it up again at four all.

Going into the bottom of the seventh, momentum began to swing the Night Hawks way after Jaxon Smith came in for an inning of relief for starter Dustin Letchworth, Thomas came up to bat ready to take the lead. Following an Reyes strikeout, Whatley got on base with a hit into left center. Then Lawhon sent one over the left field wall for a two-run shot to give the Night Hawks their first lead of the game. Next in the top half of the eighth, with runners on first and second, Thomas made a call to the bullpen to bring in Brandon Steele to close out the game. However, the first batter he faced was Billions who ripped a three run homer to retake the lead.

In the ninth, Coleman Siniard reached on an error by Waltimyer and then Barnett doubled into left center to advance Siniard to third with one out. Facing a possible two-run deficit, The Man of Steele struck out the next batter before forcing a flyout to Garcia to give the Night Hawks their best shot to walk it off in the bottom half of the inning.

The home half of the ninth started out with Whatley drawing a walk, then Lawhon dropped one over the third baseman to put the game winning run on base. Thomas put speed on the bases with Pickert running for Whatley and Cameron Rosario running for Lawhon. Then Lucas Dufresne came in to pinch hit for Jean Pool Checo, Dufrense laid down a sacrifice bunt, however the throw by the pitcher pulled the first baseman of the bag and Dufrense reached to load the bases for Gabe Tafelski, after a couple of pitches he found the sweet spot and hit one into right field, to bring Pickert home, then the right field booted the ball to score Rosario for the walkoff victory