PEMBROKE – Stibel Aleman Saba's monstrous home run with two on and one out in the bottom of the eighth pushed the UNC Pembroke baseball team out in front for good as the Braves rallied back from three deficits to clinch their weekend series with Georgia Southwestern on a 10-8 win over the Hurricanes on Saturday evening.

The Braves (17-8, 6-5 PBC) improved to 16-5 this season at Sammy Cox Field with the victory, while also improving to 18-4 all-time in the series with the Hurricanes. It was the fourth loss in the last six outings for Georgia Southwestern (15-12, 2-12).

Aleman Saba walked, homered and drove in four runs on a 2-for-3 night at the plate to pace the UNCP offense, while Nick Debo scored a pair of runs on a 2-for-5 hitting line. Roberto Rivera walked, singled and scored twice on a 1-for-3 night for the hosts.

The Hurricanes got multi-hit showings from four different players, including Davey King who drove in a run and doubled twice on a 2-for-5 plate performance. Evan Alderman (2-for-3, 2 R) singled twice and walked three times for the visitors as well.

Alex Britt (3-1) inherited a bases-loaded jam in the seventh and surrendered the lead, but managed to pick up the victory after striking out seven and giving up just two hits in 2-1/3 innings of relief. Reliever Kyle Spinks (0-2) was tagged with the tough-luck loss for GSW despite allowing just two runs (one earned) on a hit and two walks in 1-2/3 innings of work.

Georgia Southwestern used a fielder's choice RBI from Brett Burgess to stake claim to a 3-0 advantage in the top of the third, but the Braves scored four runs on three hits in the bottom of the frame to swing the momentum back in their direction. The Hurricanes would knot the score up on a RBI groundout in the fourth, however, before regaining the lead on a run-scoring double by Davey King in the top of the fifth.

UNCP utilized four hits and a costly fielding error to plate three runs in the sixth and take the lead back, but the Hurricanes answered back in the seventh, scoring three times via a walk, a hit by pitch and a costly balk.

Nick Salisbury reached base on a dropped fly ball by third baseman Alex Kranick in the bottom of the eighth, and then put runners at the corners after Debo's one-out single two batters later that chased Spinks from the mound. The strategy would not pan out for the Hurricanes, however, as Aleman Saba crushed the first offering from Chad Adkins over the trees in right field.

Weather permitting, UNCP will close out its series with Georgia Southwestern in Saturday's series finale at 1 p.m. Right-hander Logan Cook (2-3, 6.53 ERA) is scheduled to get the start for the Black & Gold, while righty Layne Gusler (1-3, 6.39) is next up in the rotation for the Hurricanes.