PEMBROKE – Cody Adkins hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the 12th inning to lift the seventh-ranked UNC Pembroke baseball team past Shippensburg, 6-5, in the front half of a series-opening doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Sammy Cox Field.

Drew Cole doubled and scored once to highlight a 3-for-6 day at the plate for the Braves (12-2), while Collins Cuthrell doubled twice and drove in two runs on a 2-for-6 hitting line. Four other players recorded two-hit outings for the hosts, including Adkins who cashed in on his first home run in the Black & Gold.

Shippensburg (2-4) got 3-hit performances from both Jimmy Spanos and Jake Kennedy in the setback.

Alex Britt (3-1) struck out one and yielded just two hits in four innings of relief work to grab the win for the Braves. Reliever Marcus Shippey (0-2) struck out nine batters and scattered six hits in 6-1/3 innings from the hill, but saddled the tough-luck loss after surrendering the homer on his first pitch in the 12th.

Ben Schmucker's leadoff home run in the fourth helped pad a UNCP lead out to 3-1, but the Raiders struck for three runs on four hits in the fifth to take a 4-3 advantage. The Braves tacked up another run in the bottom of the frame to knot the score back up, but Shippensburg went back out in front again in the sixth on Mike Marcinko's RBI groundout.

UNCP utilized a costly error by the visitors to get a man aboard in the eighth, and then tied the score up again when Cole beat out an infield single that plated Drew Beaver from third base.