FLORENCE, SC – Junior right-hander Brandon Stoots and two relievers combined on an eight-hitter and held the nation's top scoring offense to a single run as Francis Marion University defeated 24th-ranked Winston-Salem State University 6-1, Monday evening (May 6) in non-conference baseball action.

Francis Marion concludes its regular season with a 27-18 record.  The Patriots will face third-seeded and 10th-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University in the opening round of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in Greenwood, S.C.

The Rams (38-11), winners of the CIAA championship, will next play in the NCAA Division II national tournament in a week and-a-half.

Stoots (1-2), making only his second start of the year, tossed six shutout innings.  He allowed six hits, while striking out one and walking three.  He managed to work out of trouble often as the Rams stranded runners in scoring position in five of the six frames.

Freshman righty Chance DuCharme and freshman southpaw Daniel Barfield held WSSU at bay over the final three innings.  Winston-Salem State entered the game leading Division II in runs scored and ranking second in runs scored per game at 10.1 per contest.  The Rams were also third in total hits and ninth in team batting average.

Centerfielder Jarrod Reed, one of seven Patriot seniors honored in a pre-game ceremony, was 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI.  In the process, he extended his hitting streak to 10 games, his second streak of double-digit games this season.

Patriot sophomore second baseman Brett Fulmer was 2-for-3, with both hits being two-out run-scoring singles.

FMU junior shortstop Michael Wilson broke up the scoreless pitcher's duel with a two-run single to left field in the bottom of the sixth.  Wilson then swiped second base and scored on the first of Fulmer's clutch hits.

WSSU got one run back in the top of the eighth when catcher Connor Andrus' liner landed just in front of a diving Isaac Davenport in right field, allowing Tyler Hickernell to scamper home.  DuCharme recovered to retire the next batter on a grounder to second, stranding a pair of runners on base.

FMU responded with a trio of runs in the bottom of the frame as Fulmer, senior catcher Jacob Golliday, and Reed all stroked two-out RBI singles to right field.

Left fielder Travis Moore and second baseman Rafael Gonzalez led Winston-Salem State at the plate with three hits apiece.  Despite being on base a grand total of four times, FMU kept Moore from crossing the plate, something he has done 64 times this season – the second-highest total in Division II.

Freshman lefty Jordan Carlton (6-1) suffered his first loss of 2013 as he allowed two runs on three hits in five innings of work.