FLORENCE, SC – Senior right-hander Jordy Santak, making his first career relief appearance as a Patriot, retired the first 17 batters he faced and allowed Francis Marion University to claim a 9-4 victory over Lander University, Sunday afternoon (March 29) in Peach Belt Conference baseball action.

The win gives Francis Marion the series 2-1 and ups the Patriots' overall mark to 19-10 and the conference record to 10-6, good for fifth place in the PBC standings.  Lander falls to 15-19 and 7-14.

FMU will host Barton College for a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Santak (2-2) who currently ranks fourth nationally in games started and who had started 22 contests over his two seasons in Florence, entered Sunday's game with the scored tied at 3-3 and a runner on second base.  By the time he allowed a base runner, FMU owned a 9-3 lead and the Bearcats were batting with one out in the top of the eighth inning.  His final line included one strikeout, no walks, two hits allowed and one run.

A quartet of Patriots rapped out two hits: junior left fielder JD Crowe, senior first baseman Conner Wessel, senior catcher Matt Rubino, and junior third baseman Randy Loew.  Junior second baseman Cole Morris saw his nine-game hitting streak end, but he walked three times and scored twice.

After Lander's Colby Painter belted a solo homer to right field in the top of the first, Francis Marion struck back for three tallies in the bottom half of the frame.  Junior center fielder Casey Clauss scored the first run on a Bearcat fielding error and Rubino plated two with a single to center and in the process extended his hitting streak to 19 games.

Lander knocked out FMU starter Jimmy Lindberg with two runs in the top of the second, knotting the score and bringing Santak into the game. One Bearcat run came home on a passed ball and the other on an RBI ground out by catcher John Mangum.

The Patriots regained the lead in the last of the third when Rubino was hit by a pitch, took second on a throwing error, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt, and came home on Loew's RBI grounder to shortstop.

FMU would add single runs in the fourth and fifth innings and then tacked on three insurance runs in the sixth – two on designated hitter Chandler Smetana's single through a drawn-in infield and one on a run-scoring double off the left centerfield wall by Loew.

Shortstop Will Jones (2-for-3) was the lone Lander player with multiple hits. Bearcat starter Andrew Reardon (1-2) allowed five runs (three earned) on four hits and five walks in 4.1 innings of work.

Francis Marion Univ. 9, Lander University 4 (Mar 29, 2015 at Florence, SC)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lander University... 120 000 010  -  4  6  3      (15-19, 7-14 PBC)
Francis Marion Univ. 301 113 00X  -  9 11  1      (19-10, 10-6 PBC)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Lander University - Andrew Reardon; Matt Thorpe(5); Jay Robinson(5); Cam Hokanson(6);
Erik Holton(8) and John Mangum; Chris Hyatt. Francis Marion Univ. - Jimmy Lindberg;
Jordy Santak(2) and Matt Rubino.
Win-Jordy Santak(2-2)  Loss-Andrew Reardon(1-2)  T-2:52  A-659
HR LANDER - Colby Painter (3).
Weather: Sunny, 48, Winds N @ 5 mph
Thorpe faced 3 batters in the 5th.

       Jordy Santak