Box Score
AIKEN, SC – Junior right fielder Tyler Boyd drove in five runs to back the four-hit shutout pitching of sophomore right-hander Don Sandifer as 17th-ranked Francis Marion University won its Peach Belt Conference opener with a 5-0 blanking of 16th-ranked USC Aiken, Saturday afternoon (March 5) in baseball action.
Francis Marion improves to 12-5 overall and 1-0 in the PBC, while USCA (12-3, 0-1) suffers its first loss in nine games. The two teams will conclude their weekend series with a doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 1 p.m.
Sandifer (4-1) allowed only four hits, while striking out 10 and walking only one. He has not allowed an earned run in his last 34 innings, and over that span has allowed only nine base hits. He lowered his season earned run average to 0.23.
Boyd was 2-for-3 and drove in all of the Patriots runs. Senior outfielder Martin Gordon entered the game as a pinch hitter and was 2-for-2. Freshman third baseman Michael Wilson was 0-for-5 to end his career starting 14-game hitting streak
Boyd gave FMU a 1-0 lead in the second frame with a sacrifice fly to score John Jones. Jones had doubled and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Dalton Gress. In the fourth inning, Preston Shuey singled with one out. After a strikeout, Shuey stole second base and moved to third on an infield single by Gress. Boyd then followed with a three-run homer to left field that staked FMU to a 4-0 advantage.
Boyd laced an RBI single to right in the sixth inning to account for the final run.
USC Aiken's Thomas McLeod (3-2) pitched seven innings, giving up four earned runs and striking out three.
#17 Francis Marion 5, #16 USC Aiken 0 (Mar 05, 2011 at Aiken, SC)
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Francis Marion...... 010 301 000 - 5 8 1 (12-5, 1-0 PBC)
USC Aiken........... 000 000 000 - 0 4 2 (12-3, 0-1 PBC)
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Pitchers: Francis Marion - Don Sandifer and Brian Paulhus. USC Aiken - Thomas McLeod;
Ryan Milewski (8) and Josh Miller.
Win-Don Sandifer (4-1) Loss-Thomas McLeod (3-2) T-2:16 A-387
HR FMU - Tyler Boyd (1).
McLeod faced 1 batter in the 8th.
Tyler Boyd
