KANNAPOLIS — Matire Franco spent Friday night attending summer school at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium.

The Boll Weevils’ 19-year old pitcher, a much-anticipated coming attraction, discovered that often, more can be gained from failure than success.

“When you get beat, sometimes you learn more than when you win,” manager Greg Legg said after Piedmont suffered a 3-1 South Atlantic League loss to visiting Cape Fear. “Things go wrong when you lose, but if something happens in there that you grow from, maybe you won’t make that mistake again.”

Franco made two costly blunders as the playoff-bound Weevils (45-24) wind down the best half-season in franchise history. The first came in the top of the sixth inning of a tie game when Cape Fear’s Brandon Phillips took a misguided 0-2 fastball and drove it over the left-field wall, giving the Crocs a 2-1 lead.

“I knew it was a mistake when I threw it,” Franco (4-3) said through interpreter and teammate Elio Serrano. “The two-seam fastball is supposed to break in hard on a right-handed batter. But it was too flat and came across the middle.”

Piedmont pitching coach Rod Nichols agreed with Franco’s strategy against Phillips, a steady run-producer who leads Cape Fear with 55 strikeouts.

“It was the right pitch, the right idea,” Nichols said. “Usually, his two-seamer really runs in on the fists. That one didn’t. It didn’t break like it’s supposed to.”

Even reserve catcher Jeremy Deitrick, who observed Franco from the sideline, felt the two-seam fastball was the weapon of choice in that situation. “It’s his best pitch,” he said. “It moves so much. He had to go with it.”

Franco’s second mistake came two innings later. This time the second-place Crocs (38-31) got a leadoff, broken-bat single from Andrew McMillan and base hit to right from all-star outfielder Wilkin Ruan — both on 0-1 pitches. Franco admitted he became “confused” when he fielded Brett Boyer’s ensuing sacrifice bunt in front of home plate.

“The catcher (Russ Jacobson) called out ‘Third base, third base,’” Serrano explained for Franco. “He looked to third and saw he had no chance. So he turned and looked to first but the runner was too fast.”

Franco wound up holding the ball, giving Cape Fear a bases loaded/none out rally. The Crocs turned the miscalculation into profit when Phillips lofted a sacrifice fly to deep left.

“The mistake on the bunt play was allowing the count to go all the way to 3-and-1,” said Legg. “In a bunt situation, you’ve got to make it happen on the first or second pitch. Take your out and get out of there. Instead, we let them get to a hitter’s count. They could have swung away, they could have hit-and-run. The longer it took to get that play over with, the more options we gave them and the more trouble we were in.”

Piedmont scored its run against winning pitcher Ed Klepacki (6-4) when Jacobson bounced into a fourth-inning double play. The Crocs also turned DP’s in the first, seventh and eighth innings.

“Give those guys credit,” said Piedmont slugger Nate Espy. “They did a good job. Their defense gave their offense a chance to come through.”

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NOTES: Franco allowed seven hits — six of them singles — in a tidy 713-innings performance. It’s his first loss since April 25. ... The Weevils collected nine hits against four Cape Fear pitchers. Shomari Beverly had two of them, including a fifth-inning double. ... Teammate Frank Brooks was named the SAL’s Pitcher of the Week. He went 2-0 with a shutout at Charleston (W.Va.) and struck out 11 batters in 14 innings. ... The Weevils conclude the first half of their season with games against Cape Fear tonight and Sunday afternoon. … Weevil general manager Todd Parnell celebrated his 34th birthday Friday.