FLORENCE, S.C. - The University of North Georgia baseball team scored seven straight runs from the fourth inning to the seventh inning on its way to a 7-3 win over Francis Marion in the Peach Belt Conference series opener Friday night at Sparrow Stadium.

After the Patriots got a run off a RBI groundout in the second inning, Conner Corbitt blasted a solo homer to left center to tie the game up at 1-1. The Nighthawks took the lead with a one-out Jake Arnold bomb to left that traveled over 380 feet to take a 2-1 lead.

Corbitt got North Georgia back on the board in the sixth on a single to left that scored Joshua Profit from third before a four-run seventh for UNG put the game away. The Nighthawks plated those four runs without getting a hit, scoring off three walks, a hit batter, a passed ball, an error and a balk.

Francis Marion scored single runs in the seventh and eighth innings, but Jack Fleming shut down the Patriots to give UNG its fifth straight win.

NOTES
- Cade Heil (4-4) earned the win, hurling seven innings and striking out a career-high nine batters. Fleming struck out four over the final two innings of the game.

- Corbitt hit 3-for-4 with two RBI. This is his fifth three-hit game of the season and the first since February 25 against Flagler.

- North Georgia was out-hit, 10-7, but the Patriots left eight runners on base in the game compared to just four Nighthawks that were left stranded.

NEXT UP
The two teams will meet in game two of the three-game set tomorrow at 2 p.m.