FLORENCE, SC – Senior left-handed pitcher Matt Kelley fanned a season-high 13 batters and scattered four hits in his first complete game of the season to lead Francis Marion University to a 3-0 win over Georgia Southwestern State university, Sunday afternoon (April 24) in Peach Belt Conference baseball action.

The Patriots improve to 26-20 overall and 13-14 in conference play, while Georgia Southwestern drops to 23-23 overall and 6-21 in PBC play. FMU is tied with Flagler College for seventh place in the Peach Belk standings.  Those two squads will conclude their PBC play with a three-game series in St. Augustine, Fla., May 6-7.

Francis Marion will now break for exams before playing its final home game of the regular season on May 4 against North Greenville University at 6 p.m.

FMU junior shortstop Antonio Pino continued to swing a hot bat against the Hurricanes, going 2-for-4 at the plate with one run batted in. Senior right fielder JD Crowe extended his on-base streak to 18 games by drawing a walk in the bottom of the first inning for the Patriots.  Seniors Randy Loew and Shuler Ward along with junior Zach Callahan finished with one hit apiece in the contest.

Francis Marion would use some small-ball to take an early lead in the home portion of the third frame. Junior designated hitter Zack Haralambis worked a four-pitch walk to get things going for FMU. He would reach second after a throwing error by the pitcher on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Ward.

Sophomore second baseman Brooks Kennedy followed with another bunt, moving both runners into scoring position, and Pino made it 1-0 with a run-scoring single through the right-side of the infield. Crowe would follow with an RBI-groundout to the second baseman, upping the Patriot lead to 2-0.

Kelley (6-4) allowed only five GSW batters to reach base, while his 13 strikeouts are the most for him in a game since fanning 15 Hurricanes in a 3-1 FMU victory at GSW on April 26, 2015.  He did not walk a batter.

Hurricanes starter Dylan Brown (4-1) did his best to match Kelley, tossing eight strong innings for GSW. He surrendered three runs (one earned) on five hits and fanned five batters, while walking three.

The Patriots scored their final run of the afternoon in the bottom of the sixth. Pino started things off with a single into left, but would be quickly erased on a fielder's choice groundout that allowed Crowe to reach at first base. The Patriots used the hit-and-run with one out and Loew at the plate as his single advanced Crowe to third base. The play would set up a sacrifice fly situation as Clauss drove a ball to deep right field, allowing Crowe to easily cross home plate.

The Hurricanes put a pair of runners on base in the top of the ninth against Kelley thanks to a pair of singles from Devyn Newberry and Alex Kranick. With Dakota Long at the plate representing the potential tying run, Kelley dug deep to retire Long on three straight pitches to cap-off the complete-game shutout.

Brett Burgess and Will Redding tallied the other two hits for GSW, with Burgess' single coming in the second inning and Redding's coming in the third frame.