FLORENCE, SC -- Senior right fielder Will Hardee racked up four hits, and five Francis Marion University pitchers combined to strike out 11 batters, as the Patriots defeated Shepherd University 3-2, Tuesday night (March 1) in non-conference baseball action.
 
Francis Marion, now 8-6, will meet the Rams (4-5) again on Wednesday at 1 p.m. on Cormell Field at Sparrow Stadium.
 
Junior Matt Dooley (2-0) picked up the victory out of the bullpen. The right-hander went two innings, giving up one run on four hits, allowing no walks and striking out one. Senior righty Nick Palumbo tossed a 1-2-3 ninth inning to earn his third save of 2022.
 
FMU freshman southpaw Jet Smith started for the Patriots, and threw four innings, giving up one run on five hits, with no walks and five strikeouts.
 
In addition to his four hits, Hardee had a double and scored twice. It was the Evergreen native's fifth four-hit game of his collegiate career.  Senior third baseman Todd Mattox went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and a run batted in. He extended his streak of safely reaching base to 57 games.
 
Freshman shortstop Tyler Reynolds also registered two hits for FMU.
 
The Patriots got on the board immediately, taking a 1-0 advantage on a two-out RBI-double by Mattox.  In the second frame, FMU doubled the margin when junior catcher Isaac Schuck drilled a two-out double to left that plated graduate student designated hitter Darius Nobles.
 
Shepherd narrowed Francis Marion's lead to 2-1 in the third before the Patriots responded with a third run on an RBI-grounder by senior left fielder Lex Tuten.
 
The Rams scored a single run in the fifth to draw within 3-2, but were held to one hit over the final three innings.
 

 
Francis Marion Univ. 3, Shepherd University 2 (Mar 01, 2022 at Florence, SC)
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Shepherd University. 001 010 000  -  2 10  0      (4-5)
Francis Marion Univ. 111 000 00X  -  3 11  1      (8-6)
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Pitchers: Shepherd University - Austin Crebs; Nick Trabacchi(4) and Zach Doss; Andrew Edwards.
Francis Marion Univ. - Jet Smith; Matt Dooley(5); Cory Poulsen(7); Halton Hardy(8);
Nick Palumbo(9) and Isaac Schuck.
Win-Matt Dooley(2-0)  Save-Nick Palumbo(3)  Loss-Austin Crebs(0-2)  T-2:57  A-100
Weather: clear, 69, 1 mph winds east
 
GAME NOTES
» Hardee collected four hits on the day for Francis Marion.
» Smith struck out five Rams hitters.
» Francis Marion's highest scoring inning was the third, when it pushed one run across.
» Francis Marion grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the first and didn't surrender that lead for the remainder of the game.
» The Patriots out-hit the Rams at an 11-10 clip.
» Hardee stole two bases in Tuesday's game.
» Francis Marion pitchers faced 38 Shepherd hitters in the game, allowing six ground balls and seven fly balls while striking out 11.
» Hardee led the Patriots at the plate, going 4-for-4 with a double.
» Shepherd was led offensively by junior Sam Daggers, who went 2-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI.
» Senior Nick Trabacchi led the Rams pitching staff, throwing five shutout innings.