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GREENWOOD, SC - Francis Marion University used a six-run seventh inning to rally for a 9-7 win in game one and senior left-hander Matt Broderick tossed six shutout innings in game two as the 20th-ranked Patriots claimed a 11-1 win to sweep Sunday's (April 15) Peach Belt Conference baseball doubleheader with 30th-ranked Lander University.

Francis Marion improves to 30-13 overall and 17-9 in the PBC, while capturing its 18th win in the past 22 outings. The Patriots are now mere percentage points behind East Division-leading Armstrong Atlantic State University. Lander falls to 28-15 and 13-11.

In the first game, FMU senior righty Jarrott Hooks (5-0) earned the win in relief after striking out one, walking two and allowing four earned runs on four hits in 2.2 innings pitched. Starter Gary Ashcraft went 5.2 innings and struck out four, walked six and allowed three earned runs on six hits. Sophomore Jeffrey Stoner earned his third save of the year by getting the final two outs, the first of two saves he would earn on the day.

Lander starter Chris Thomas (5-2) took the loss.

The Bearcats jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Kevin Starr's bases-loaded double plated Patrick Grady and Erik Lunde. Lander extended the lead to 3-0 in the fifth on Jeff May's sacrifice fly.

Francis Marion exploded for its six runs in the seventh to take a 6-3 lead. Junior outfielder Jarrod Reed delivered an RBI double and then Reed and Brock McCallister both scored on a Lander error. Senior outfielder Tyler Boyd plated Luke Tollison with a run-scoring single and Brian Paulhus scored on a wild pitch before Stephen Tarkenton's sacrifice fly drove home Michael Wilson for the final run of the inning.

The Patriots stretched the lead to 9-3 in the ninth when Tyler Hibbs and Boyd scored on Buddy Sosnoskie's sacrifice bunt that was errored on, and Sosnoskie later came home on Tarkenton's second sacrifice fly.

The Bearcats rallied for four runs in the ninth on AJ Nunziato's two-run homer, Ian Harvey's RBI double, and Jacob Tisdales' RBI single.

McCallister's 2-for-4 day and Boyd's 2-for-5 effort paced the Patriots in game one.

In the second contest, Broderick (7-1) continued his strong pitching as he struck out one, walked two, and allowed just five hits in six innings. He is now 5-0 in PBC starts this season. Stoner earned his second save of the day and fourth of the season when he struck out three, walked one, and allowed one earned run in three innings of relief.

Lander's Kyle Tate (3-1) suffered his first loss of the year after allowing four earned runs on six hits in four innings.

The Patriots took a 3-0 lead in the first inning when Sosnoskie's stroked a two-run single and later scored on a wild pitch FMU stretched the lead to 4-0 in the fifth on Jacob Golliday's solo homer over the centerfield wall.

The sixth inning was the most damaging for the Bearcats as FMU extended its lead to 10-0 thanks to Wilson's two-RBI double, Golliday's RBI double, and run-scoring singles by McCallister, Tollison and Will Chandler. The Patriots posted their final run in the eighth on Sosnoskie's RBI groundout.

Wilson, Sosnoskie and Tollison had three hits each, while Boyd, McCallister and Golliday had two each. Boyd's four-hit afternoon extended his hitting streak to 14 games.

The Bearcats scored their lone run in the eighth when a Starr single drove in Grady.