CARY, NC – After engineering a three-run rally in the ninth to send the game to extra innings, Francis Marion University surrendered three runs in the bottom of the tenth to Saint Augustine's University, and the Falcons knocked off the Patriots by a 10-9 count, Thursday (April 23) afternoon in non-conference baseball action.

The Patriots are 25-17 overall and will visit Georgia Southwestern State University for a key three-game Peach Belt Conference series beginning on Sunday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader.  The series has been altered slightly due to approaching weather.  FMU and GSW will conclude the series with a single game on Monday at 1 p.m.

FMU junior right-hander Jeremiah Freeman (2-3) was the losing pitcher as he surrendered three runs on seven hits in 2.1 innings.  SAU's Brandon Pearson (1-0) was the beneficiary of the walk-off win, after entering in the 10th and fanning three.

Junior designated hitter Ryan Miller (2-for-4 with three RBIs) and senior catcher Matt Rubino (2-for-3 with one RBI) paced the Patriot sluggers.  Junior left fielder JD Crowe was 1-for-5 with two runs scored and extended his streak of reaching base safely to 25 games.

Francis Marion owned a 4-1 lead and FMU starter Fernando Pinillos had held the Falcons offense to only three hits going into the last of the sixth.  However, the Saint Augustine's bats caught fire in the frame, scoring six runs on six hits to claim a 7-4 advantage.  Second baseman Timothy Carter delivered an RBI double, sophomore shortstop Corey Brassington tripled to bring in two runs and then scored on one of two FMU errors in the frame, and third baseman Carey Cheek gashed a two-out single to vault the Falcons ahead 7-4.

With two out in the ninth, however, Miller bashed a three-run homer to left field as FMU knotted the contest at 7-7.

SAU had runners on first and second with one out in the home half of the ninth, but Francis Marion averted danger by inducing an inning-ending double play.

Crowe's lone hit came on an RBI triple in the extra inning and junior third baseman Randy Loew followed with an RBI sacrifice fly to put the Patriots in front 9-7, but the Falcons would go on to orchestrate another rally.

After Brassington's RBI groundout and a run-scoring single by center fielder Jason Baytop, Cheek singled to left to capture the win for SAU.

Baytop was 3-for-6 and Cheek was 2-for-6 with 3 RBI to lead Saint Augustine's (15-24).