FLORENCE, SC – Senior first baseman Conner Wessel singled home the go-ahead run amid a four-run seventh-inning rally as Francis Marion University defeated Armstrong State University 5-3 on Sunday afternoon (Feb. 22), and with rain washing out game-two of the doubleheader the Patriots sweep the abbreviated Peach Belt Conference series.

Francis Marion improves to 8-3 overall and 2-0 in the PBC with its fourth straight win and seventh consecutive victory over the Pirates going back three seasons.  Armstrong State drops to 9-3 and 3-2. 

Game two of the scheduled twinbill reached the top of third inning with the score knotted at 1-1 before the rains came.

FMU will play a single game at 15th-ranked University of Mount Olive on Tuesday at 3 p.m.  The Patriots will return to Peach Belt play next weekend with a three-game series against 24th-ranked Flagler College, beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Sparrow Stadium.

On Sunday, the two squads matched zeros through the first four frames.  FMU right-handed starter Jordy Santak did not allow a base runner until one out in the top of the fifth. Pirate designated hitter JT Phillips singled to third base and advanced to second when the late throw to first was high.  He would eventually come around to score on a two-run single to center field by second baseman Chandler Corley.

FMU answered with a single run in the last of the fifth when junior designated hitter Ryan Miller led off with a single and later scored when a sacrifice bunt attempt was thrown away at first for an error.

Armstrong State scored once in the top of the sixth – an RBI grounder by R.J. Dennard – and took that 3-1 advantage into the top of the seventh inning.  The Pirates loaded the bases then, but Francis Marion reliever Ryan Manore fanned one batter and induced an inning-ending double play grounder.

Trailing 3-1, the Patriots rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh.  Junior third baseman Randy Loew doubled in one run, while junior left fielder JD Crowe plated one run with ground out,  Wessel picked up the game-winning RBI, and an insurance run scored on a two-out throwing error.  Loew's hit extended his season-long hitting streak to 11 games.

Manore (1-1) earned the win with 1.1 innings of scoreless and hitless work.  Junior righty Jeremiah Freeman threw the final 1.2 innings, allowing two hits but no runs to earn his first save of 2015.  Santak allowed two earned runs on three hits with three strikeouts in six frames.

Crowe extended his hitting streak to eight games with a 3-for-5 performance.  Wessel has a 10-game streak alive as he went 2-for-5, while sophomore shortstop Zach Callahan was 2-for-4.

Phillips (2-for-4) was the lone Pirate with multiple hits in the opener.  Tyler Graham (1-1), the second of three Armstrong State pitchers, was charged with the loss. Pirate starter Pete Nagel allowed one unearned run on six hits with seven strikeouts in six innings.