Box Score AMERICUS, GA – Francis Marion University plated seven runs in the second inning en route to an 8-4 victory over the Georgia Southwestern State University Hurricanes on Monday (April 27) and to a sweep of the three-game Peach Belt Conference baseball series.
Francis Marion boosts its season mark to 28-17 and to 16-12 in the PBC and temporarily moves into a tie for sixth place in the conference standings. FMU has qualified for the Peach Belt Tournament, to be held May 9-10 in Columbus, Ga.
Georgia Southwestern falls to 13-34 and 4-27.
With the game tied at 1-1, junior right fielder Shuler Ward pulled a two-run double down the left field line to blast off the sizzling FMU second. Junior center fielder Casey Clauss followed with an RBI sacrifice fly.
After a single by junior infielder Randy Loew, junior left fielder JD Crowe registered the first of his three hits with a two-run double. Crowe has now reached base safely in 27 consecutive games. Senior catcher Matt Rubino added to the outburst when he delivered yet another two-run hit.
Junior southpaw Daniel Barfield (4-2) worked a productive 7.1 innings for FMU, as he fanned six and allowed four runs and 10 hits. During the three-game set, FMU hurlers struck out 26 Hurricane batters.
Georgia Southwestern reached its four-run total with single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. In the sixth, junior outfielder Devyn Newberry brought home a run on a sacrifice fly, while sophomore second baseman Will Redding's run-scoring single trimmed the FMU lead to 8-3 in the seventh. An eighth-inning solo round-tripper by senior designated hitter Josh Tatnall (who went 4-for-4) completed the Hurricane scoring.
GSW sophomore starter Dylan Brown (1-3) was the losing pitcher, yielding all eight FMU runs on five hits in 1.1 innings.
In addition to two-RBI outputs from Ward, Crowe and Rubino, junior first baseman Ryan Miller was 2-for-4 for the Patriots. Both Crowe and Rubino finished the series 6-for-13.
Junior left fielder Brett Burgess was 3-for-3 with two runs scored to help pace Georgia Southwestern's lineup.
Francis Marion 8, Georgia Southwestern 4 (Apr 27, 2015 at Americus, Ga.)
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Francis Marion...... 170 000 000 - 8 9 0 (28-17, 16-12 PBC)
Georgia Southwestern 100 001 110 - 4 11 2 (13-24, 4-26 PBC)
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Pitchers: Francis Marion - Daniel Barfield; Brandon Cook(8) and Matt Rubino.
Georgia Southwestern - Dylan Brown; Kyle Spinks(2); Coty Graham(8) and Brandon Weaver;
Jared Jones.
Win-Daniel Barfield(4-2) Loss-Dylan Brown(1-3) T-2:25 A-87
HR GSW - Josh Tatnall.
Weather: 72 deg, 8mph NNW, sunny
