FLORENCE, SC – Senior left fielder Casey Clauss lined an inside-the-park grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift Francis Marion University to a 10-9 come-from-behind win over Limestone College, Sunday afternoon (Jan. 31) in non-conference baseball action.

Francis Marion (2-0) will play host to the four-team Pepsi Cola Pop-Off Series on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (Feb. 5-7).  FMU will play King University (Tenn.) on Friday at 2 p.m.

Trailing 9-6 with two outs in the eight, Clauss lined an 0-1 pitch from southpaw Ryan Whitt (0-1) to shallow center field where the outfielder dove for the ball but was unable to corral it.  By the time the ball was tracked down at the warning track by the left fielder and relayed back to the infield, Clauss had rounded the bases and crossed the plate standing up.

VIDEO OF WINNING HR

It is the first inside-the-park home run at Cormell Field at Sparrow Stadium, the Patriots' home that opened in 2011.  It was the first inside-the-park homer for FMU since Preston Shuey's "run-off" inside-the-parker in a 5-4 win over Davis & Elkins College on Feb. 15, 2009.

Sophomore shortstop Brooks Kennedy was the lone Patriot with multiple hits as he went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs.  Senior right fielder JD Crowe went 1-for-4 with a run driven in and extended his streak of safely reaching base to 34 games.  Senior first baseman Randy Loew contributed a two-run double.

FMU junior right-hander John McGinty (1-0), the fifth of five Patriot hurlers, pitched the final 1.2 innings allowing no runs to pick up the win.

Sophomore shortstop Zach Piazza led Limestone (0-2) at the plate with a 5-for-5 effort that included a home run, three runs scored, and three RBIs.

The Saints took an early 1-0 advantage in the top of the first by pushing across an unearned run, the benefit of a two-out infield fielding error.  A Limestone error to start the bottom of the second inning eventually led to an RBI groundout by Kennedy that knotted the score at 1-1.

FMU starter Brandon Cook escaped damage in the top of third following an error and a line-drive single by inducing an inning-ending double play grounder to Tad Martin at third.  A walk and a hit batter set the table for FMU in the last of third.  Crowe put Francis Marion up 2-1 with a run-scoring single to right and designated hitter Zach Paquette hit a sacrifice fly to left upping the margin to 3-1.

Limestone grabbed one run back in the fourth on a bases-loaded wild pitch, but Cook stranded three Saints baserunners allowing FMU to hold a 3-2 margin.  The Patriots regained their two-run lead (4-2) in the bottom half of the frame when second baseman Cole Morris walked, stole second, and came home on an RBI single to right center by Kennedy.

Piazza, cousin of former MLB player and newly elect Hall of Famer Mike Piazza, hit a towering 367-foot solo homer to left to lead off the top of the fifth and after the Saints batted around he delivered a two-out two-run single to left that produced an 8-4 Saints' lead.  In between Piazza's at bats, three Patriot relievers surrendered three walks, a 2-run bloop single to center by Austin Marcellus, and a line drive RBI single by Chris Ford.

In the bottom of the seventh, FMU loaded the bases with no outs and later trimmed the deficit to 8-6 on Loew's two-run double down the left field line.  Limestone went ahead 9-6 in the eighth on a two-out RBI line drive single to center by first baseman Brandon Hood.