The Auckland Tuatara remain atop the northeast division in the Australian Baseball League, despite losing their series to the league-leading Adelaide Giants.
Needing to win Sunday's series finale to draw the series, Auckland slumped to a 2-1 defeat in a tight contest at West Beach.
The win sees the Giants, who have the best record in the competition, claim a 3-1 series win over the Tuatara.
Starting pitcher Josh Collmenter was sharp in five scoreless innings but he couldn't get any run support from his teammates, and the game remained a 0-0 ballgame through five innings.
The Giants scored a pair of runs in the sixth to grab the lead before Auckland's Kim Won-seok drove in Kent Blackstone to halve the deficit in the eighth.
But Auckland couldn't find the game-tying run in the ninth inning
The Tuatara won their previous three series - against the Canberra Cavalry, Brisbane Bandits and Sydney Blue Sox.
The Tuatara return to North Harbour Stadium on Thursday night for a cross-division match-up against Geelong Korea.
