It may have been a cold night in Wilmington, but the UNC Wilmington baseball team showed off their red hot bats with their wins over Georgia State.

UNC Wilmington played their first two conference home games in a doubleheader on Friday, taking on CAA conference leader Georgia State. The Seahawks came into Friday riding a three game wining streak, scoring 10 runs in each of their last two games. They pushed their win streak to five after winning their first game in a shutout 9-0 and their second in another dominating performance, 12-1.

“We did a good job of putting bats together,” Coach Mark Scalf said. “We were playing well in the first half of each game, but we were able to find some holes in their defense later on in the games to open things up. We were playing the game the way we know how to play the game and that was advancing runners and driving in runners from third base.”

Ryan LaGrange and Drew Farber led the Seahawks on offense in the first game of the afternoon. Both players were key in the sixth inning where UNCW really broke the game wide-open.

LaGrange opened the inning by earning his third RBI of the afternoon with a double that brought in Luke Dunlap for the second time in the game. That made it 4-0 for the Seahawks.

Farber was then responsible for one of the biggest plays of the game came in the bottom of the same inning. Following a 1-2 count with the bases loaded, Farber nailed a double of his own to left-center field, bringing in all three base-runners in the process, making it 7-0 UNCW. This extended Farber’s team-leading RBI count to 21. After Michael Bass added a RBI single, the Seahawks finished the sixth with five hits and five runs, along with a 8-0 lead.

Hunter Ridge capped the scoring in the first game in the eighth when he extended his UNCW career-hits record by using a single to bring Bass home to make it 9-0.

Red-shirt junior pitcher Mat Batts had a great game for the Seahawks, as well, throwing a complete game. He finished with seven strikeouts, allowing only four hits with no runs

“Mat Batts gave a great performance on the mound,” Scalf said. “He was prepared, making pitch after pitch today.”

Following a 30-minute break, the teams played for the second time on Friday.

It was Georgia State that started the game strong this time. Following a double by centerfielder Josh Merrigan, shortstop Chad Prain bunted and an error on the play brought Merrigan home to make it 1-0 coming out of the gate for the Panthers. The Seahawks would tie it back up in the next inning with freshman right fielder Christian Wolfe hitting a double to bring in Luke Dunlap. That made it 1-1 after two innings. Compared to the start of the first game, UNCW only had one run scored in the first five innings of the game.

“I don’t think fatigue was a factor,” Scalf said. “We made a couple of mistakes defensively, but Jordan minimized damage and kept us right where we want to be. After the first inning I thought that we were putting some good swings together, but we just couldn’t find holes until later in the ball game. We were starting to put good quality bats together in the third inning and then we finally found those holes in the sixth.”

Once again, just like in the first game, the Seahawks caught fire in the sixth, scoring six runs in the inning.

“I just try to make my swing the same every time I swing the bat and making sure I’m focused on that every time I’m in the cage so it translates to the game as well,” Bass said. “I try to make every swing serious so I can feel good and make it happen.”

The Seahawks’ scoring streak began with a familiar face, Ridge. He would hit a sacrifice fly in the inning to bring in Terence Connelly to take the lead at 2-1. Dunlap would come in next and hit a double to bring in Bass to make the score 3-1. Georgia State brought in Nick Squeglia to relieve Garret Ford, but it didn’t prove helpful for the Panthers. He walked two straight players at bat and the Seahawks scored two more runs, all from walks, to increase the lead to 5-1. Squeglia was quickly relieved without throwing a full inning. Corey Dick would score later on a sacrifice fly by Drew Farber to make it 6-1. After that, Terence Connelly hit a single and an error on that same play allowed Ryan LaGrange to score to make it 7-1.

“Our guys really wanted to continue to put bats together,” Scalf said. “I think they’re starting to buy into how to approach things offensively. They’re starting to get a little more comfortable and gain some confidence. That push that we have is contagious and now we’ve got more guys buying in and sticking with the approach.”

The Seahawks would then score three runs in the seventh and two in the eighth, creating the final score of 12-1. While his second game was not as strong as his first, Bass continued to show his importance at the lead-off position.

“He’s had a huge impact on us so far,” Scalf said. “For him to be there at the top of the lineup and to be on bases a lot, it gives our guys in the line-up sitting at 2, 3 and 4 to get into good scoring position. Michael is our catalyst and he makes things go. He’s also right there at the top in driving runs in for us.”

Jordan Ramsey was a stud for the Seahawks on the mound, as well. The sophomore finished with eight strikeouts on the night, allowing one run on five hits.

“I was just coming out and trying to locate my fastball and go off that and work on my slider as well to make those pitches a little easier,” Ramsey said. “I was working on keeping the ball at the knees and getting strikeouts with my fastballs and my teammates did a really good job of making plays behind me. It always feels good as a pitcher when you’ve got guys behind you playing well.”

The Seahawks pushed their record to 16-7 and their conference record to 3-1. Even though they beat their conference leader twice in a doubleheader, the Seahawks still have some playing to do on Saturday

“It was a good day no doubt,” Scalf said. “It puts us a little closer to where we want to be. They’ve been playing well, but I don’t think they’ve been facing the same kind of pitching that we threw at them today, the way Ramsey and Batts have been throwing. Our work’s not done though; we’ve got another game tomorrow. It’s nice going into the last game of the series knowing that we’ve won a doubleheader, but we want to try to finish this thing out tomorrow.”