FLORENCE, SC – Senior center fielder Daniel Hussey had three hits and drove in four runs, while junior southpaw Aydin Palmer collected his first win, as Francis Marion University downed West Liberty University 15-1, Sunday afternoon (Feb. 8) in chilly non-conference baseball action.
 
Francis Marion, now 5-1, sweeps the three-game series from the Hilltoppers (0-3), while scoring 61 runs, the second-highest total in a three-game series in program history.
 
The Patriots will host local-rival Coker University on Tuesday at 4 p.m.  FMU has won its last 18 home contests.
 
Palmer, a product of South Florence High School, scattered four hits and struck out a career-high 14 batters, while throwing 112 pitches in his five-inning outing.
 
Hussey finished 3-for-3 with a walk, while senior right fielder Riley Orr went 3-for-3 with a double and three runs driven in and senior catcher Dariel Villaran Goundis was 3-for-4, including a two-run homer.
 
Senior third baseman and lead-off batter Will Dorrell also collected two hits, walked twice, scored three times, and drove in two runs.  He extended his hitting streak to 10 games and his streak of safely reaching base to 49 games, both dating back to last season.
 
The Patriots plated four runs in the bottom of the first inning.  A single by Dorrell and a pair of hit batters quickly loaded the bases.  The first run scored on a throwing error at the plate and Hussey followed with a three-run double to right field.
 
A sacrifice fly by junior first baseman Charlie Bussey III scored Dorrell with FMU's fifth run in the last of the second.  Junior second baseman Jake Hardee, making his second career start, drove in a run with a fielder's choice in the third to up the margin to 6-0.
 
Catcher Luke Marsh got the Hilltoppers on the board in the fourth with an RBI-single up the middle, but Palmer regrouped and fanned three of the next four batters to end the threat.  FMU got that run back in the bottom of the frame on a run-scoring grounder by junior left fielder Matthew Manuel.
 
Villaran Goundis extended the advantage to 9-1 with his two-run shot to left with no outs in the fifth.  That hit chased West Liberty junior righty Colby Conn (0-1) from his first start of the season.  The first five batters reached against the next hurler, with Dorrell and Hussey collecting run-scoring singles and Orr a two-run double as the lead reached 13-1.
 
A bases-loaded walk to Dorrell and a sacrifice fly by Orr accounted for the final two FMU runs in the sixth inning.
 
Junior righty Zeph Arnold and senior righty Clayton Stewart both pitched scoreless frames to complete the seven-inning game for FMU.  The three Patriot hurlers combined to fan 19 batters, one shy of the team single-game record.