DAHLONEGA | The University of North Georgia baseball team brought the game-winning run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth but were unable to pull off the comeback in the series finale against Francis Marion, falling, 6-4. The win puts UNG at 13-14 in the Peach Belt Conference heading into the team's final conference series of the season next weekend.
 
The Patriots got on the board first in the top of the third when Zach Paquette
broke up Chris Cobb's no-hit effort with a triple to the wall in left and Brooks Kennedy followed with an RBI single through the right side to plate the first run of the game.
 
Trevor Sams tied the game with a solo homer to left center in the fourth, but Francis Marion answered with a Kennedy two-run shot to right center in the fifth as they retook the lead and never looked back.
 
Francis Marion extended their lead with a solo home run in the seventh and added two more runs in the eighth.
 
The Nighthawks started to mount a comeback in the bottom of the eighth scoring a pair of runs on a Sam Tidaback RBI double to right center and a groundout plated a run later in the inning to pull the game within three.
 
Joshua Profit drove in the final run of the game in the ninth with a sacrifice fly to left that scored Kevin Krupp from third.

NOTES
- Chris Cobb (4-2) took the loss, going 5.2 innings allowing three runs on three hits with four walks and five strikeouts. FMU's Matt Kelley (5-4) got the win with an impressive 12 strikeouts on the day.
 
- Devin Gearhart led the Nighthawk effort at the plate with a 3-for-4 performance with a run scored.
 
- Francis Marion improves to 11-19 all-time against UNG. This season marked just the second series that North Georgia has claimed against Francis Marion, having won the series the past two seasons.
 
NEXT UP
The Nighthawks will play a midweek game on Tuesday with a 7 p.m. match up against Truett-McConnell to end the 14-game home stand.