FLORENCE, SC – Reserve third baseman Mickey Skole drove in three runs, including the game-winner with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 12th inning, as Francis Marion University rallied for a 6-5 win over local-rival Coker University, Tuesday night (Apr. 11) in non-conference baseball action.
 
Francis Marion (22-19), winners of nine straight, will host Barton College for a three-game Conference Carolinas series this weekend.  The series will consist of a single game on Saturday at 3 p.m. and a Senior Day doubleheader on Sunday at 1 p.m. – the final regular-season home games for the Patriots.
 
The nine-game streak is the longest for FMU since the 2017 squad opened the season with 10 consecutive victories.
 
Graduate student right fielder Will Hardee led the Patriots at the plate with four hits, including two doubles and a home run.  He extended his hitting streak to 13 games and his streak of safely reaching base to 25 consecutive games.  The two doubles ties him for the active lead among all NCAA Division II players with 59 career two-baggers.  It was his 11th career four-hit game as the South Florence High School product moves to within 13 hits of the FMU career mark for that category held by Michael Wilson (287).
 
Senior catcher Isaac Shuck and sophomore center fielder Caleb Oakley both recorded three hits for FMU.  All three of Schuck's hits were doubles, tying the FMU single-game record held by many (the last time by Tanner Wakefield in 2021).
 
The winning rally began in controversial fashion.  Schuck hit a drive that reached the top of the left field wall.  Coker left fielder Jacob Yarberry made a leaping attempt and had the ball in his glove for a second, but could not complete the process of securing the ball according to the base umpire.  Sophomore first baseman Tyler Reynolds moved Schuck to third with a sacrifice bunt, and Skole brought him home with a live drive to center field that was caught with a sliding effort by Adam Wilkerson.
 
FMU senior right-hander Jack Hegan (1-1) earned the win with a scoreless top of the twelfth.  In all, five Patriot relievers combined to hold the Cobras (15-29) scoreless for the final seven innings.
 
Coker senior righty Ethan Graham (1-2) pitched the final 4.1 innings for the Cobras and was tagged with the loss.
 
First baseman Kody Hanna led Coker with three hits, including a pair of doubles.
 
FMU got on the board with an unearned run in the bottom of the second.  Schuck led off by dumping a double down the right field line.  He moved to third on a ground out, and remained there as freshman third baseman Charlie Bussey III reached on an infield single to third.  Schuck then scored as Cobra starter Lawson Otte was wild with a pickoff throw to first.
 
The Cobras answered immediately with four runs in the top of the third, highlighted by a two-run double by Hanna.
 
FMU trimmed the margin to 4-2 in the bottom of the frame.  Oakley singled back up the middle and moved to third on a Hardee double.  Graduate student second baseman Tanner Wakefield then plated Oakley with an RBI-ground out to shortstop.
 
A wild pick-off attempt by FMU in the top of the fifth resulted in an unearned run that upped the margin to 5-2.
 
The Patriot crept to within 5-3 with two outs in the seventh, when Hardee sent a 2-1 pitch from reliever Collin Breland 387 feet over the right centerfield wall for his team-leading seventh homer of the year.
 
A pair of one-out walks issued to the Patriots in the last of the eighth put the tying runs on base.  Skole, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in the sixth inning and who had only 13 plate appearances all season, then lined a two-run double down the left field line knotting the score at 5-5.
 
Wakefield walked in the 11th inning, a frame that saw the Patriot leave the bases loaded, to extend his streak of safely reaching base to 33 games.

 
 
Francis Marion Univ. 6, Coker University 5 (Apr 11, 2023 at Florence, SC)  12 INNINGS
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Coker University…... 004 010 000 000  -  5  8  1      (15-29)
Francis Marion Univ. 011 000 120 001  -  6 15  3      (22-19)
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Pitchers: Coker University - Lawson Otte; Collin Breland(4); Ethan Graham(8) and Zack Wall;
Ashby Vining. Francis Marion Univ. - Matt Dooley; Cory Poulsen(3); Austin Moore(4);
Connor Kirkley(7); Ben Thornton(8); Josh Adams(9); Jack Hegan(12) and Isaac Schuck.
Win-Jack Hegan(1-1)  Loss-Ethan Graham(1-2)  T-3:38  A-242
HR FMU - Will Hardee (7).
Weather: clear, 71, winds W @ 2 mph
Lawson Otte faced 1 batter in the 4th.