FLORENCE, SC – Despite four hits from junior first baseman Charlie Bussey III, 21st-ranked Francis Marion University came up on the short end of a 29-11 slugfest in a loss to second-ranked North Greenville University, Sunday afternoon (March 1) in Conference Carolinas baseball action.
 
Francis Marion falls to 15-3 overall and 7-2 in conference play, while the Trailblazers improve to 16-2 and 7-2. The marathon contest lasted four hours and 44 minutes.
 
The Patriots will travel to local-rival Coker University on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. match-up.
 
Bussey III finished 4-for-6 with two doubles, a homer, and two runs batted in, while senior third baseman Will Dorrell was 3-for-6 with a double, two runs scored, and an RBI.  Three Patriots recorded two hits each: junior designated hitter Ethan McAnally, junior catcher Zander Buchan, and freshman shortstop Logan Davis.
 
FMU jumped out to an early lead, scoring six times in the bottom of the first.  Dorrell led off with a single to center field, extending his streak of safely reaching base to 61 straight games.  Bussey III followed with a high chopper over the third baseman's head that went for a double.
 
Dorrell scored the first run on Riley Orr's run-scoring grounder to the mound that was misplayed.  McAnally upped the margin to 2-0 with an RBI-double to left center field and Buchan drove in two runs with a sharp single to right center.  After a pitching change and a pair of outs, senior second baseman Jimmy Koza plated the fifth run with a single through the right side.  Davis made the advantage 6-0 with a run-scoring single back up the middle as the Patriots batted around.
 
By the third inning that margin was gone as the Trailblazers scored twice in the second and five times in the third, to chase FMU starter Eze Rojas.  Right fielder Josh Foulks drove in the go-ahead run with a single to left center as NGU went on top 7-6.  Foulks finished the game 5-for-7 with a homer and eight RBIs.
 
Bussey III tied the game at 7-7 with a long solo homer to left in the fourth inning.
 
The Trailblazers responded immediately with three runs in the top of the fifth to assume a 10-7 advantage.  However, FMU answered with three runs of its own to again even the contest.  Davis plated the first run with a run-scoring ground out.  Dorrell drove in the second run when he beat out a two-out infield single.  He then moved to third on a double by Bussey III and scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 10-10.
 
The tables turned again in North Greenville's next at bat as the Trailblazers scored four times in sixth, highlighted by a two-run homer just inside the left field foul pole by designated hitter Connor McKie.
 
Facing a 14-10 deficit, the Patriots stranded a pair of runners in the bottom of the sixth. The margin swelled to 23-10 with NGU batting around and scoring nine times in the seventh.
 
Bussey III accounted for the Patriots' eleventh run with a run-scoring single through the left side.
 
FMU sophomore right-hander Tyler Skeen (1-1), the third of eight FMU hurlers, was tagged with the loss.
 
Every North Greenville position starter recorded at least two hits and drove in a least one run.  Freshman righty Thayer Tavormina (2-0), the third of six NGU pitchers, earned the win.