WILSON – Max Gagnon scored on an errant throw in the top of the sixth to give the visitors a comfortable 2-0 lead, but Barton victimized the UNCP bullpen for five runs in the latter frames en route to a 5-3 upset win over the 15th-ranked Braves on Tuesday at Fleming Stadium.

The setback snapped a four-game winning streak for UNCP (20-7) who lost for the fifth time this season when leading after the fifth inning. The triumph marked the third-straight victory for the Bulldogs (9-13) who snapped a five-game losing skid to the Braves in the process as well.

Zade Denton singled, doubled and homered on a perfect 3-for-3 hitting line to account for a majority of UNCP's five hits in the game. Phillip Williams drove in a pair of runs on a 3-for-4 outing for Barton, who also got a 2-for-4 hitting line from Avery Harper.

Aaron Spano (1-5) blew his fifth-straight save opportunity and saddled the loss for the Braves after allowing one earned run on two hits and a walk in just 1-2/3 innings from the mound. Ches Lamm (2-0) grabbed the win for the Bulldogs with 2-1/3 relief innings in which he allowed just one earned run on two hits. Zach Beachem tallied his second save of the campaign by recording the final two outs in the ninth.

Both starters proved more than able as well. UNCP's Connor Pratt struck out three and scattered three hits over five strong innings from the hill before exiting the game with a 2-0 lead in the sixth. Barton starter Brandon Warren struck out three and yielded just one hit and a trio of walks in a six-inning quality start for the Bulldogs. UNCP's bullpen (Jimmie Davis, Spano, Brandon Estrain and David Dail) combined to allow five earned runs on five hits and five walks in three innings of work.

Denton's one-out solo homer in the second would give UNCP an early advantage, but the Braves got something going in the sixth and utilized an ill-timed throwing error by the hosts to go out in front by a pair of runs. Davis issued free passes to each of Barton's first two hitters in the bottom of the sixth, and the Bulldogs cut into their deficit on Mitchell Wheeler's RBI single to left field that chased Davis from the hill. Spano got the second out of the inning by inducing Collins Cuthrell to fly out to centerfield, but the hosts knotted the score back up with the next at-bat on Harper's single up the middle.

The Bulldogs would grab their first lead of the contest on a two-out infield single with the bases loaded in the seventh, and then pushed that advantage out to a trio of runs on a two-run single by Dillon Rudio in the eighth. Denton added UNCP's third run of the contest on a one-out RBI single in the top of the ninth, but Beachem got pinch hitter Derrick Phillips to hit into a double play to minutes later to nix the comeback attempt.

UNCP will close out an eight-game road trip this weekend when it heads to St. Augustine, Fla., for a weekend series with Peach Belt Conference rival Flagler (12-14, 5-10 PBC) at Drysdale Field. The series is scheduled to be contested on Saturday (1 p.m. DH) and Sunday (1 p.m.), but inclement weather is expected to alter the series.