FLORENCE, SC – Three Francis Marion University relief pitchers combined for seven shutout innings and the Patriots pounded out 18 hits en route to a come-from-behind 14-9 win over Lenoir-Rhyne University, Tuesday afternoon (Feb. 23) in non-conference baseball action.
 
Francis Marion (1-3) improves to 38-11 all-time in home openers.  FMU will play a three-game Peach Belt Conference series at Young Harris College this weekend, consisting of a single game on Friday at 5 p.m. and a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
Five Patriots registered three hits apiece in the victory: junior right fielder Will Hardee (3-for-5), sophomore left fielder Jack Hegan (3-5), senior third baseman Todd Mattox (3-6), graduate student shortstop Grayson Cottingham (3-4), and junior second baseman Tanner Wakefield (3-5).  Hardee and Wakefield both drove in two runs, while Mattox plated three, including a mammoth home run off the scoreboard in left centerfield.
 
Senior center fielder Bill Hanna added a pair of hits, a run scored, and one driven in.
 
Junior righty Cory Poulsen (1-1) entered the game in the second with the Bears leading 9-4.  He tossed 2.1 scoreless frames, followed by two scoreless innings by freshman righty Tyler Davis, and three blank frames by graduate student Christian Umphlett.  In his school-record 67th career relief appearance, Umphlett recorded his first save of 2021 and the ninth of his career.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne scored four times in the top of the first, but Francis Marion answered with four in the bottom of the frame.  The Bears then exploded for five in the top of the second to lead 9-4, but would be held scoreless the rest of the way and would manage only three infield singles over the final seven innings.
 
Two runs – an RBI-single by Hanna and a sacrifice fly by Hardee – in the third drew FMU to within 9-6.  Four tallies in the fourth pushed Francis Marion ahead for the first time at 10-9.  That outburst included Mattox's homer, an RBI-double down the left field line by Cottingham, and a two-run single up the middle by Wakefield.
 
A two-out double just inside the right field line by Mattox plated an insurance run in the seventh.  Run-scoring hits by Hardee and junior catcher Daulton Dabbs and a dropped pop up accounted for the final three runs in the eighth.
 
Senior left field E.J. Ranel blasted a pair of three-run homers for the Bears (3-4).  Freshman right-hander Chipper Mcginnis (0-1), the third of nine LRU hurlers, was tagged with the loss.
 
 
Francis Marion Univ. 14, Lenoir-Rhyne Univ. 9 (Feb 23, 2021 at Florence, SC)
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Lenoir-Rhyne Univ... 450 000 000  -  9 11  4      (3-4)
Francis Marion Univ. 402 400 13X  - 14 18  1      (1-3)
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Pitchers: Lenoir-Rhyne Univ. - Joey Cobb; Braden Houston (3); Chipper Mcginnis (4);
Ben Friebel (4); Hayden Gresham (5); Jarod Large (6); Ray Stocum (7); Austin Blevins (8); Michael Allen (8) and Bryce Stober. Francis Marion Univ. - TJ Provenzano; Reece Kleinhelter (2); Cory Poulsen (2); Tyler Davis (5); Christian Umphlett (7) and Leniel Gonzalez; Daulton Dabbs.
Win-Cory Poulsen(1-1)  Save-Christian Umphlett(1)  Loss-Chipper Mcginnis(0-1)  T-3:38  A-92
HR - E.J. Ranel 2 (3); Matt Mackey (1); Todd Mattox (1).
Weather: Clear, 64, Winds W @ 7 mph
Davis faced 1 batter in the 7th.


FMU head coach Art Inabinet