North Georgia Tops Francis Marion 6-2 in PBC Tournament

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Fourth-seeded North Georgia rallied for four runs in the eighth and ninth innings Thursday to defeat No. 3 seed Francis Marion 6-2 in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament at Lake Olmstead Stadium.

Senior righthander Chris Curtis turned in a complete-game effort to improve to 9-2 on the season for the Saints. He scattered 11 hits and surrendered two earned runs, recording nine strikeouts without a walk.

Sophomore second baseman Logan Sharrett went 4-for-5 for the Saints (38-19). Josh Tate drove in two runs while Sharrett and Daniel Pettitti each scored a pair of runs.

Four Patriots – Greg Phelps, Preston Shuey, Ryan Hypke and Chris Honeycutt -- recorded two hits each.

FMU’s Zane Petty (5-1) suffered his first loss of the season. He allowed six hits and three runs – two earned – in 7.0 innings of work with two strikeouts and a walk. Lefty Zach Ferry came on in relief of Petty in the eighth and was charged with five hits and three runs in 2.0 innings.

The Patriots (32-19) rallied for a run in the sixth to knot the game at 2-all when Phelps reached on a leadoff single to left, moved to third on a Jared Barkdoll single and scored on Shuey’s RBI-single to right.

The Saints immediately answered with two runs in the top of the eighth. Sharrett slapped a leadoff double to right and after Ferry took over for Petty, Andre Airich singled up the middle to plate Sharrett. Josh Tate then flied out to deep left-center on a tremendous sliding catch by the Patriots’ Justin Greene, allowing Sharrett to score all the way from second base.

NGCSU tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the ninth on an RBI-double by Craig Brisson and an RBI-single to right from Sharrett.

With the victory, North Georgia advances to face the winner of No. 2 USC Aiken-No. 5 Georgia College & State on Friday, May 9 at 7:00 p.m. at Roberto Hernandez Stadium on the campus of USC Aiken.

FMU will take on top-seeded Columbus State on Friday at 3:00 p.m. The Cougars (40-15) hammered Armstrong Atlantic State 16-6 on Thursday in Aiken, S.C.

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