Box Score FLORENCE, SC – Mother Nature gifted Francis Marion University and Limestone College with a beautiful January day to open the baseball campaign and FMU senior outfielder Shuler Ward's three-run homer highlighted an eight-run eighth inning as the Patriots rallied for a 13-4 win on Saturday (Jan. 30).
Ward's RBI single gave the Patriots the lead for good at 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning, and then his three-run shot to left center in the eighth accounted for FMU's final three tallies.
FMU (1-0) will look to stay unblemished on the young season as the Patriots again host the Saints at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Cormell Field at Sparrow Stadium. The Patriots will then host the Pepsi Cola Pop-Off Series, Feb. 5-7, that will feature Peach Belt Conference foe Augusta University, King University (Tenn.), and Claflin University.
Patriots senior southpaw Matt Kelley got the nod on opening day for head coach Art Inabinet and turned in six quality innings. Kelley worked a quick first inning, striking out each of the first two Limestone batters that he faced. A fly ball down the left field line would be caught by senior outfielder Casey Clauss to end the inning.
Limestone (0-1) scored the first run of the game in the top of the second inning as senior infielder Austin Marcellus drove in a runner from third base with an infield single. The Patriots would, however, have their chances to knot the game up as they stranded several runners against Saints starter Anders DeShields.
FMU junior Chase Haas kicked off the bottom of the fourth inning with a four-pitch walk. Two batters later, sophomore infielder Brooks Kennedy took a pitch in the back, giving FMU a pair of baserunners. Junior infielder Tad Martin would tie the game up 1-1 with an RBI single that came on a 3-2 pitch. Clauss then gave his team a 2-1 lead with a single, scoring Kennedy from third.
The Saints tied up the game (2-2) in the top of the sixth inning against Kelley. With a runner on second and two outs, junior Garrett Lowery delivered a run-scoring triple off of the wall in center field. Kelley would work his way out of the inning and earn high fives from his teammates in the process. Kelley scattered six hits over six innings of two-run baseball, striking out four and walking just one.
The seventh inning saw both teams put up crooked numbers on the scoreboard as the Saints scored a pair of runs in the top half of the frame to take a 4-2 lead against senior reliever Daniel Barfield. FMU answered with a three spot in the home half of the inning to storm back and take a 5-4 lead.
The Patriots exploded offensively in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Limestone bullpen, scoring eight runs on seven hits to take a 13-4 lead.
Francis Marion senior reliever Fernando Pinillos (1-0) tossed 2.1 innings of scoreless baseball to close out the game for FMU. Pinillos surrendered just one hit and struck out two batters en route to his first win of the season.
Ward finished the game 2-for-5 with 4 RBIs, while Martin went 3-for-5 with one run driven in, and senior first baseman Randy Loew went 3-for-4 at the plate with one RBI and two runs scored. Senior right field JD Crowe went 2-for-5 and extended his streak of safely reaching base to 33 games, while Clauss also delivered a pair of hits.
Josh Shailer (0-1) took the loss for the Saints. Chris Ford, Marcellus, and Lowery each had two hits for Limestone.
|
Score by Innings R H E
------------------------------------------------------------
Limestone College... 010 001 200 - 4 9 1
Francis Marion Univ. 000 200 38X - 13 14 2
------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
E - Piazza, Z.(1); Martin(1); Ward(1). LOB - Limestone 9; Fr. Marion 12. 2B - Allen, C.(1); Lowery, G.(1). 3B - Lowery, G.(1). HR - Ward(1). HBP - Lowery, G.; Paquette; Kennedy. SH - Koch 2(1). SF - Piazza, Z.(1). SB - Lowery, G.(1); Marcellus, A(1); Ford, C.(1); Kennedy(1). CS - Martin(1).
|
Win - Pinillos (1-0). Loss - Shailer, J. (0-1). Save - None. WP - Harris, M.(1); Mullinax, E.(1); Kelley(1). HBP - by Burnside, M. (Kennedy); by Pinillos (Lowery, G.); by Mullinax, E. (Paquette). PB - Stewart, C. 2(1).
Umpires - HP: Kelly Lewis 1B: Donnie Daniel
Start: 1 pm Time: 3:05 Attendance: 695
Weather: Hazy 54 Degrees Winds S @ 8mph
Harris, M. faced 2 batters in the 8th.
Dobison, W. faced 2 batters in the 8th.
