(PHOTO by Caleb Reeves)

FLORENCE, SC – Senior left-hander Michael Maiocco tossed a four-hit shutout and 24th-ranked Flagler College plated a pair of unearned runs in the top of the ninth to snap a scoreless deadlock and the Saints claimed a 2-0 win over Francis Marion University, Friday evening (March 24) in Peach Belt Conference baseball action.

FMU drops to 20-9 overall and 4-6 in the Peach Belt, while Flagler improves to 20-10 and 8-2.  The squads will play game two of their weekend series on Saturday at 2 p.m.

FMU senior right-hander Chance DuCharme (2-2) made the longest outing of his career, hurling 8.1 innings and allowing only three singles with six strikeouts and two walks.

Maiocco (7-1), one of the national leaders in pitching wins for Division II, fanned three and issued only one walk.

Only twice did the Patriots get a runner into scoring position.  In the bottom of the third, senior second baseman Antonio Pino walked with one out to stretch his streak of safely reaching base to 22 consecutive games. Junior first baseman Trey Chapman followed with a single through the left side, but  Maiocco then induced a double-play ground ball to end the threat.

Patriot senior catcher Logan Koch singled to lead off the FMU fifth and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt.  However, the receiver was stranded there as Maiocco successfully retired the next two batters.

In the ninth inning, FMU freshman third baseman Harris White was hit by a pitch with two outs, but Maiocco recovered to retire the next batter on a game-ending ground out to second.

Flagler had earlier taken its 2-0 lead in the top of the ninth.  After a walk, a single, and a sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third, the Saints scored their first run when a grounder to short was mishandled.  Three batters later, Flagler tallied its second run on a two-out wild pitch.

Flagler second baseman Ethan Crout (2-for-4) was the only player on either side to register multiple hits.

Slick fielding plays behind DuCharme aided the Patriot cause during the first eight frames.  Koch caught a runner attempting to steal – his 12th such nabbing of the season – to end the fourth inning.  Earlier in that frame, junior left fielder William Robbins went to his knees to catch a liner.  Chapman started a 3-6-3 double play in the seventh and reached over the retaining fence to snare a foul pop to close out the eighth inning.  FMU senior shortstop Zach Callahan made a sliding catch of a foul ball on the warning rack on the third base side in the sixth frame (see video below).

#24 Flagler College 2, Francis Marion Univ. 0 (Mar 24, 2017 at Florence, SC)
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Flagler College..... 000 000 002  -  2  3  0      (20-10, 8-2 PBC)
Francis Marion Univ. 000 000 000  -  0  4  1      (20-9, 4-6 PBC)
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Pitchers: Flagler College - Michael Maiocco and Igor Baez. Francis Marion Univ. - Chance DuCharme;
Adam Hornstra(9); Cole Hinnant(9) and Logan Koch.
Win-Michael Maiocco(7-1)  Loss-Chance DuCharme(2-2)  T-2:17  A-529
Weather: Mostly Cloudy,74,Winds SSE @14