FLORENCE, SC – Junior right fielder
Tanner Cannon doubled twice and drove in five runs to lead Francis Marion University to an 18-8 victory over Claflin University on Tuesday night (Apr. 2) handing long-time head coach
Art Inabinet his 700th career win as the Patriot skipper.
Francis Marion (14-19) will be back in action on Friday (Apr. 5) in Conference Carolinas league action against Erskine College. The first pitch is set to be thrown at 6 p.m. in Sparrow Stadium.
Inabinet improves to 700-467-2 in 24 seasons on the Patriot bench. He owns 784 career victories.
Four other Patriots recorded multiple hits against the Panthers: junior catcher
Nick LaVigne 3-for-4, sophomore shortstop
Peyton Starkey 2-for-4, senior left fielder
Zack Summerville 2-for-4, and senior third baseman
Blake Falor 2-for-4. Both Falor and LaVigne homered.
Starting in the first inning, both teams registered a run for a 1-1 tie. The Patriots then went on to score eight times for a 9-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning, with the offensive drive kicked off by Falor's home run. Starkey, Falor (again), and LaVigne had run-scoring hits and Cannon walked with the bases loaded.
To answer, Claflin (1-31) scored six runs in the third to trim the margin to 9-7.
Summerville began the bottom of the third inning with a single through the right side. Shortly after, junior designated hitter
Noah Stout walked and junior second baseman
Owen Taylor was hit by a pitch. With bases loaded, junior first baseman
Kollin Crepeau hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Summerville for a 10-7 lead. With a double into right center, Cannon drove in both Stout and Taylor and widened the margin to 12-7.
LaVigne homered and Stout hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth inning, extending the lead to 14-7. Claflin scored its last run of the contest in the top of the sixth inning to trail 14-8.
In the last of the eighth, Crepeau hit another sac fly with the bases loaded and Cannon plated two with a double to left centerfield in invoke the 10-run rule at 18-8.
FMU sophomore right-handed hurler
Tyson Hall (3-1), the fourth Patriot hurler of the night, picked up his third win of the season with two scoreless and hitless innings. He struck out three. Panther righty Jordan Jackson (0-5) was tagged with the loss.
Francis Marion Univ. 18, Claflin 8 (Apr 02, 2024 at Florence, SC)
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Claflin....................... 106 001 00 - 8 12 2 (1-31, 0-15)
Francis Marion Univ. 183 201 03 - 18 12 3 (14-19, 6-12)
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Pitchers: Claflin - JACKSON,Jordan; HASSAN,Khalil(2); MACK,Anthony(4); WARREN,Demetrous(7) and BAILEY,Michael. Francis Marion Univ. –
Brennan Murphy;
Connor Kirkley(3);
Tyler Burgess(5);
Tyson Hall(7) and
Nick LaVigne.
Win-
Tyson Hall (3-1) Loss-JACKSON,Jordan (0-5) T-3:00 A-187
HR FMU -
Blake Falor (1);
Nick LaVigne (3).
Weather: Sunny, 84, SW 14 MPH
HASSAN,K faced 2 batters in the 4th.
