ORANGEBUEG, SC – Junior first baseman Trey Chapman hit a two-run home run to snap an eighth-inning deadlock and spark Francis Marion University to a 10-4 win over Claflin University, Wednesday evening (April 19) in non-conference baseball action.

Francis Marion (29-16) will play host to Columbus State University for the final Peach Belt Conference series of the year this weekend.  The series will begin with a single game on Friday at 6 p.m.  The Patriots are currently in a three-way tie for eighth place (and the final PBC Tournament berth) in the conference standings.

Junior center fielder Reese Cooley led FMU at the plate with a 4-for-6 evening that included a double, a run scored, and two driven in.  Cooley extended his streak of safely reaching base to 27 straight games. Senior shortstop Zach Callahan finished 3-for-5, while Chapman was 3-for-4.

Freshman lefty Garrett Wilson (6-3) picked up the win with two scoreless innings of relief work.  Sophomore closer Cole Hinnant tossed a perfect 1-2-3 ninth inning after the Patriots took the lead.

Francis Marion scored twice in the top of the first, but the Panthers (12-28) scored three unanswered runs to take 3-2 advantage after two frames.  Two runs in the top of the fourth – a RBI double by Cooley and a run-scoring passed ball – put Francis Marion up 4-3, but Claflin equalized with a single tally in the bottom half of the inning.

The score remained tied at 4-4 until the eighth when Chapman blasted his one-out two-run homer.  Kennedy and Cooley added run-scoring singles to account for a four-run outburst.

Kennedy plated a pair of insurance runs in the ninth with a single.

Claflin starter Aaron Perry (0-2) was charged with the loss as he surrendered six runs (four earned) on 11 hits in 7.1 innings.  Center fielder Elliott Melton had two hits for the Panthers, while right fielder Darrell Langston delivered a two-run single.