FLORENCE, SC – Eight players registered a hit and seven players drove in a run during Sunday's (Feb. 19) Conference Carolinas baseball series finale to propel Francis Marion University to a 12-2 win over Chowan University.
 
Francis Marion, now 6-5 overall and 3-0 in conference play, will host the reigning NCAA Division II national champions and conference opponent top-ranked North Greenville University on Friday (Feb. 24) for a single game at 6 p.m. and a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
FMU junior southpaw Chas DeBruhl (2-1) went 5.2 innings, giving up one earned run on three hits, while walking two and striking out five. Senior righty Matt Dooley and graduate student Luke Allain each threw one scoreless inning, while junior right-hander Adam Creswell secured the win for the Patriots in the top of the ninth.
 
Sophomore center fielder Caleb Oakley crushed the only extra-base hit of the afternoon, a run-scoring double in the eighth. Graduate student left fielder Tanner Wakefield and sophomore first baseman Tyler Reynolds each scored two runs.
 
Chowan (0-9, 0-3) pushed across one run in the sixth on a Jackson Dunlap run-scoring single through the right side, and the Hawks later scored another in the ninth off a bases-loaded walk.
 
Junior right-hander Bradley Wilbourne (0-2) picked up the loss for Chowan tossing four innings.
 
The Patriots brought across seven runs in the second inning on only two hits.  Wakefield was hit by a pitch, stole second, and went to third on a wild pitch.  He then scored on a Reynolds' ground ball.  With the bases loaded, freshman catcher Tucker Rabun made it 2-0 with a run-scoring single, and then junior designated hitter Alex Elliott scored on a wild pitch.  The Patriots brought home two more runners after the Hawks committed a fielding error, and senior right fielder Will Hardee and freshmen third baseman Charlie Bussey III each scored a runner with a ground out.
 
Francis Marion added two insurance runs in the fifth after Wakefield scored on a Chowan error and Reynolds came home after a balk.  In the sixth, pinch hitter Kollin Crepeau plated a run with a single to right-center field. The Patriots scored their final two runs in the eighth inning from the Oakley RBI-double and an RBI-single from freshmen infielder Peyton Starkey.
 
FMU outscored the Hawks 35-5 throughout the opening Conference Carolinas series, as the Patriots took game one 12-2 and game two 11-1 in seven innings.

 
 
Francis Marion Univ. 12, Chowan University 2 (Feb 19, 2023 at Florence, SC)
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Chowan University... 000 001 001  -  2  5  5      (0-9, 0-3)
Francis Marion Univ. 070 021 02X  - 12  8  1      (6-5, 3-0)
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Pitchers: Chowan University - Bradley Wilbourne; Carson Everette(5); Patrick Driggers(6);
Jayden Bailey(8) and Warren Bailey. Francis Marion Univ. - Chas DeBruhl; Matt Dooley(6);
Luke Allain(8); Adam Creswell(9) and Tucker Rabun; Isaac Schuck.
Win-Chas DeBruhl (2-1)  Loss-Bradley Wilbourne (0-2)  T-2:45  A-132
Weather: 53 degrees,cloudy,4mph winds W