FLORENCE, SC – Senior right fielder JD Crowe drove in three runs and senior left-hander Matt Kelley tossed seven shutout innings as Francis Marion University handed head coach Art Inabinet his 500th win on the Patriot bench as FMU defeated King University 10-1, Friday afternoon (Feb.5) in the opening game of the Pepsi Cola Pop-Off Baseball Series.

The Patriots (3-0) will return to action on Saturday, the second day of the two-day event.  FMU will play Claflin University in a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m.  Augusta University and King will play a twinbill earlier in the day beginning at 10 a.m.   Admission on Saturday is free.

In his 16th year as the Patriots' skipper, Inabinet owns a 500-287-2 coaching mark.  With 584 overall career victories, he is only 16 wins shy of the 600-plateau.

Kelley (1-0) scattered eight hits, fanned five, and issued no walks in his 85-pitch outing.  Freshman righty Connor Pate worked the final two innings for Francis Marion.

Crowe finished 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and two runs scored in addition to his three runs batted in. The Birmingham, Ala., native also extended his streak of safely reaching base to 35 games.  Both designated hitter Zach Paquette and second baseman Cole Morris both went 2-for-5 with two RBIs.

King starter Mark Hendricks (0-1) was tagged with the loss in the Tornado's season opener.  Designated hitter Austin Dayton plated King's lone run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning.  First baseman Dylan Sligh went 2-for-4 at the plate as the only Tornado player with multiple hits.

Francis Marion scored twice in the opening inning on back-to-back sacrifice flies by senior first baseman Randy Loew and junior catcher Logan Koch.  FMU plated three runs in the third on a run-scoring single by Paquette and a two-run double to left center by Morris.

A two-run double into the right field corner by Crowe expanded the margin to 7-0 in the last of the fourth frame.  After King scored its run in the top of the eighth, FMU answered with three tallies in the bottom of the inning.  Crowe laced an RBI single through the left, while Paquette hit an RBI grounder and the final run crossed home on a Tornado throwing error.