Francis Marion improves to 24-13 overall and 10-7 in the Peach Belt, while North Georgia drops to 18-15 and 8-9.  The two teams, who entered the weekend tied for fourth place in the PBC, will conclude the series with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.

In the opener, FMU junior right-hander David Walters (7-3) snapped his personal three-game losing skid by limiting the Saints to six hits and two runs through seven frames.  He struck out five.  Senior lefty Zach Farry tossed two scoreless innings to notch his ninth save of the season.

FMU took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a triple by Trent Knight and a two-out fielding error by the Saints.  The margin went to 2-0 on Keon Graves’ RBI single in the fourth inning, following another Knight triple.

North Georgia tied the game at 2-2 in the sixth inning on a two-run double to right center field by shortstop Anders Oster.  Shuey’s ground ball to short plated David Bounds, who opened the seventh inning with an infield single, as the 6-4 230-pound freshman beat the double play throw to first.

Senior righty Chris Curtis (4-2) was the losing pitcher, despite allowing only seven hits and one earned run in six innings.

Knight and Bounds paced FMU with two hits apiece in game one, while Rob Flanigan (3-for-4) and Craig Brisson (2-for-5) combined for five of North Georgia’s eight hits.

In the second game, North Georgia built a 3-1 lead through six innings as Saints’ starter James Wiley limited FMU to five hits.  FMU scored five times in the seventh inning to go ahead 6-3, but North Georgia answered with four runs in the top of the eighth to regain the lead at 7-6.

With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Josh Smith singled and moved to second on an outfield error. Graves and Vince Farfaglia both walked to load the bases.  Hypke then stroked a 1-1 pitch between third and short to score the tying and go-ahead runs. 

In the top of the ninth, Brisson walked to start a potential Saints’ rally, but Patriot senior Ed Paul came on to strike out Andre Airich and FMU catcher Jared Barkdoll threw out Brisson attempting to steal to leave North Georgia down to its last out.  Paul then retired Flanigan on a fly ball to center to earn his third save of 2008.

FMU sophomore Zane Petty (2-0) was the winning pitcher, while Jacob Rickett (2-2) was the loser.

Barkdoll, Smith, and Farfaglia all had two hits for FMU in the second game.  Bardoll also drove in two runs, while senior shortstop Greg Phelps had a 3-run triple to extend his hitting streak to eight games.  Earlier this season, he had a 34-game streak.

Oster went 3-for-4 in the game two for the Saints, while Chad Sage was 2-for-4 and drove in four runs.  Daniel Petitti also had two hits, scored twice, and drove in one run.