DAHLONEGA, Ga. – Visiting and 17th-ranked UNCP rallied for a trio of runs in both the third and eighth innings behind effective pitching from both Ethan Carter and Patrick McMahon and held off a late rally by North Georgia to post a 7-4 win over the Saints in the series opener on Friday afternoon at Bob Stein Stadium.

The triumph marked the 11th victory in the last 14 outings for UNCP (24-8, 12-7 PBC) who also snapped a two-game losing streak to the Saints in the process as well. North Georgia (10-19, 3-10) has now dropped four of its last five contests, as well as its last seven contests against Peach Belt Conference competition.

Zade Denton homered and drove in four runs on a 3-for-4 outing for the Braves, who also got two-hit outings from both Jordan Edgerton (2-for-5) and Drew Cole (2-for-4, RBI). Daniel Fraga walked three times and scored twice for the visitors as well.

Jake McCurry doubled once en route to a 3-for-5 hitting line for North Georgia, while Jesse Strickland singled and scored twice on a 2-for-4 day at the plate.

Working on just four-days rest after throwing 104 pitches in Saturday's win at Flagler, Carter (9-0) still kept his perfect record intact after scattering six hits and a pair of earned runs over 6-1/3 innings from the hill. McMahon grabbed his fourth save of the season despite allowing two earned runs on three hits in 2-2/3 innings of relief.

Taylor Keinat (1-5) lost for the third time in his last four appearances after surrendering four earned runs on four hits and a pair of walks in his shortest outing (2-1/3 innings) of the campaign.

Denton's 3-run homer with one out in the third helped UNCP extend its lead out to 4-0, but North Georgia struck for lone runs in the bottom of the third and fifth innings to cut that deficit in half. The Braves utilized a pair of hits as well as one costly fielding error to score a trio of unearned runs in the eighth and take a seemingly comfortable 7-2 lead, but the Saints used a two-run single from Eason Spivey in the bottom of the inning to make things interesting down the stretch.