The Wilmington Sharks gained some breathing room in the CPL South Division standings on Friday night when they defeated the Fayetteville Swampdogs 6-5, marking the first time the Sharks have defeated Fayetteville in Wilmington this summer.

With the win, the Sharks push one game up on Fayetteville and now sit 1-1/2 games ahead of Morehead City after the Marlins lost at Columbia Friday.

Jake Mayers' solo homer was the difference in the Sharks' win Friday night.

The Sharks transformed into the Wilmington McSharks for the game, wearing special jerseys that were auctioned off during the game with the proceeds going to the Ronald McDonald Houses of North Carolina.

Against Fayetteville, the Sharks used a Jake Mayers solo homer in the bottom of the seventh to take the lead in what proved to be the game winner.

The Sharks had two players tally two-hit nights, Mayers and Aaron Preston, as they only had six hits as a team in the win.

The Sharks opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning before seeing Fayetteville tie the game in the top of the fourth. Wilmington answered with two runs in both the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings before seeing Fayetteville rally back and tie the game in the top of the sixth, paving the way for Mayer’s homer.

Sharks starter Mat Batts fared well through 5-2/3 innings, striking out five, but could not get the final out of the sixth and he gave up a four-run lead and was lifted.

In the third, Preston led off the inning with a walk before advancing around the bases and scoring two batters later on Justyn Carter’s single.

After Fayetteville tied the game in the top of the fourth, the Sharks regained the lead when Preston knocked a two-out, two-run double that scored Mayers and Scott Coleman.

The Sharks extended their lead in the fifth, scoring two runs off of zero hits as they were aided by Fayetteville errors, passed balls, wild pitches and a balk that brought a run in. However, the Sharks left the bases loaded to end the inning.

Fayetteville answered with four runs in the top of the sixth on four hits and one Sharks error to tie the game at 5-5 before Mayers knocked his solo homer with one out in the bottom of the seventh that just cleared the wall in left-center field.

Chris Dula (1-1) earned the win for the Sharks in 1-1/3 innings of relief as he struck out three of the four Fayetteville batters he faced.

Ross Whitley struck out one batter as part of a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his seventh save of the season.