ST. AUGUSTINE – Flagler College rallied from a 9-0 deficit to defeat Francis Marion University 10-9 in 10 innings in a Peach Belt Conference baseball game Saturday afternoon at Drysdale Field.

Flagler concludes its regular season with a 29-18 overall record and a 16-14 mark in the Peach Belt. The Saints will be the No. 7 seed in next week's PBC Tournament at Florence, South Carolina. Francis Marion University concluded its season with a 26-23 overall record and finished with a 13-17 mark in conference play.

The Saints managed to chip away at the deficit after the Patriots held a 9-0 lead through four innings. Flagler had single tallies in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings to go along with a five-run out-burst in the sixth to narrow the gap to one run (9-8).

In the bottom of the ninth, Kolin McMillen led off with a walk and Igor Baez followed with a single up the middle and McMillen bolted all the way to third. That chased Francis Marion reliever Cole Hinnant from the game. Zach Callahan came in and walked James Jean to load the bases. Cole Ondrejka hit a taped back to the mound and the flip to home beat McMillen. Nick Oberg hit a ground ball to shortstop, who made the flip to second base for the first out, but Oberg just beat the throw to first and Baez scored the game-tying run. Callahan, two batters later, was able to get out of the inning without any more damage done.

The Patriots went in order in the top of the 10^th. Dylan Jones led off the bottom of the 10^th with a shot to right-center the right fielder JD Crowe drifted back towards the gap, but the ball kept carrying all the way until Crowe had the ball deflect of his glove when he collided with the fence. Jones quickly rounded the bases all the way to third with a triple. Callahan intentionally walked the next two batters to set up a force out at home plate. Baez hit a slow roller down the third base line and when Cole Morris went down to pick the ball up, he lost the grip and Jones scored the winning run without a throw.

Jeremy Graf (2-2) picked up the win in relief for the Saints. He tossed two scoreless innings and retired all six batters he faced. Graf was the last of seven different Flagler pitchers to throw in the game. Jordan Doyle also tossed two scoreless innings and allowed just two hits and struck out a batter. The Flagler bull pen did not allow a Francis Marion runner to score in the last six innings.

Baez went 3-for-6 with a double and two runs scored for Flagler. Jones went 3-for-6 with a triple and he scored the winning run. Frankie Sagarese finished 2-for-4 with a solo home run in the fifth and wound up scoring two runs and driving in two runs.

Callahan (0-3) took the loss for Francis Marion. He pitched the last innings, allowed one hit, an unearned run and walked three batters, two of which were intentional.

Brooks Kennedy led the 17-hit Patriot attack by going 5-for-5 with a double, a run scored and one run batted in. Crowe went 3-for-5 with a double and he scored three runs. Randy Loew finished 2-for-5 with a home run, four RBI and two runs scored.

Flagler will open the PBC Tournament on Wednesday (May 11) against the University of Montevallo at 7 p.m. at Sparrow Stadium. The Saints are one of four teams in Pool B. The winner of Pool B will play the winner of Pool A in the championship game on Sunday (May 15) at 1 p.m.

NOTE: Prior to the game, Flagler honored its nine seniors: Michael Hanke, James Jean, Kolin McMillen, Jabe Molinaro, Mike O'Reilly, Nick Oberg, Frankie Sagarese, Kyle Schackne and Matt Wynne.