PEMBROKE – The 30th-ranked UNC Pembroke baseball team sent 11 batters to the plate to key a 5-run outburst in the third inning and then held off a late rally by visiting Francis Marion to even up the weekend series with a 6-5 victory over the Patriots on Saturday afternoon at Sammy Cox Field.

Billy Vaughn homered and drove in three runs on a 3-for-4 hitting line to lead the Braves (28-10, 14-9 PBC), but the hosts also got key home runs from both Collins Cuthrell (1-for-4, RBI) and Zade Denton (1-for-4, 3 RBI) as well. Dalton Knight and Drew Beaver both added 2-for-4 hitting lines.

Matt Rubino walked, homered and drove in three runs on a perfect 3-for-3 day for Francis Marion (25-12, 12-9), while Cole Morris hit a solo homer to highlight a 2-for-5 showing.

Andy Sullivan (3-1) struck out six and scattered six hits and four earned runs over seven quality innings from the mound to grab the win for UNCP. Alex Britt worked the last two innings of the contest to notch his fourth save of the campaign. Starter Daniel Barfield (3-1) took the loss for the Patriots after surrendering four earned runs on three hits in just 2-1/3 innings of work.

Rubino's two-out single in the top of the first plated a pair of runs and helped the visitors take a quick 2-0 lead, but Cuthrell cut that deficit in half on a solo blast in the bottom of the frame. Vaughn tied the game up with a leadoff homer in the third, but Denton gave the Black & Gold the lead for good on a 3-run homer with two outs later in the frame. Vaughn would single in another run to give UNCP a 5-2 advantage heading to the fourth.

The Patriots scored lone runs in the fifth and sixth innings, and then climbed to within one score on a RBI groundout by Zac Lenns in the eighth, but Britt settled down to retire three of the four batters he faced in the ninth to slam the door on the potential rally.

The squads will engage in the series rubber game on Sunday afternoon at Sammy Cox Field. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.