FLORENCE, SC – Senior first baseman Riley Orr doubled twice, singled, and drove in three runs to lead 11th-ranked Francis Marion University to an 8-4 win over local-rival UNC Pembroke and a split of Saturday's (Apr. 4) Conference Carolinas baseball doubleheader.  The Barves won the opener 4-1 in pitcher's duel.
 
Coupled with Friday's 8-3 victory, Francis Marion (30-8, 19-5) takes the three-game series over the Braves (25-11, 16-8).  It also marks the second fastest in program history that FMU reached 30 wins – behind only the 1979 squad that started 30-5.
 
The Patriots will play their final non-conference road contest on Tuesday with a 5 p.m. game at Lander University.
 
FMU junior outfielder Charlie Bussey III, the nation's leading hitter with a .510 average entering Saturday, reached base five times in the twinbill: three singles, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch.  He also scored once in the second game to tie Michael Wilson's single-season record for runs scored (71) that he set in 2011.
 
In the nightcap, Francis Marion scored runs in each of the four frames to take a 7-4 advantage.
 
In the first inning, FMU junior first designated hitter Ethan McAnally worked a two-out walk and scored on Orr's first double, a drive to right center field.
 
After the Braves scored twice in the top of the second, the Patriots immediately knotted the game at 2-2 with a two-out RBI-double off the right field wall by senior center fielder Daniel Hussey in the bottom half of the frame.
 
UNC Pembroke scored once in the top of the third to go up 3-2.  Again, FMU responded in their next at bat.  Bussey III led off with a single, moved to second on a balk, stole third base, and scored on a wild pitch to deadlock the game at 3-3.  Later in the inning, senior second baseman Jimmy Koza ripped a two-out, two-run single through the left side to give FMU the lead for good at 5-3.
 
The Braves scored once in the top of the fourth, but Francis Marion answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning to forge the 7-4 advantage. Hussey walked to start the inning and went to third on a failed pick-off attempt that saw the ball get thrown down the right field line.  Senior left fielder Will Dorrell was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners, and Orr later registered another two-out double, this one down the left field line, to plate both runners for the three-run margin.
 
The final run of the game came across in the seventh when freshman shortstop Logan Davis reached on a fielder's choice, took second on a wild pitch, stole third base, and came home on sacrifice fly by junior third baseman Brandon Vargas.
 
In addition to Orr and Bussey, Hussey also finished the second contest with multiple hits (2-for-3).
 
Patriot junior right-hander Eze Rojas (4-2) collected the win as he pitched six innings, allowing only four hits with six strikeouts.  Freshman righty Owen Powell (seventh) and sophomore lefty Jackson Madden (eighth and ninth) combined to pitch three scoreless frames in relief.
 
UNCP left-handed reliever Cam Revels (1-2) was tagged with the loss.
 
Game one featured the top pitching match-up in Division II on Saturday as UNCP senior righty Kasen McCawley – the reigning national pitcher of the week – squared off against FMU junior southpaw Aydin Palmer.  McCawley entered the contest among a group of several pitchers (including FMU's Robbie Jordan) with a nation-leading eight wins, while Palmer was among a group with seven victories.
 
The Braves plated three of their runs in the second inning off Palmer.  Center fielder JD Scarbrough drilled a two-run double to right-center field, just out of the reach of a diving Hussey.  Scarbrough moved to third on a wild pitch and scored an unearned run when the throw to third sailed wide and down the left field line.
 
FMU left runners in scoring position each of the first three frames, including the bases loaded in the third.  Francis Marion finally broke through against McCawley with a run in the fifth.  Davis led off with a single to center and moved across to third on back-to-back wild pitches.  He scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Dorrell.
 
UNCP put runners on second and third with no outs in the sixth, and the bases loaded with two outs, but Patriot closer Jafet Martinez Delgado retired the Braves' lead-off man to end the inning without a run scoring.
 
However, Braves' third baseman Landon Lucas did add an insurance run with a solo homer to left in the top of the seventh inning to increase the margin to 4-1.
 
Palmer (7-2), a South Florence High School product, threw 5.0 innings, allowed two  earned runs on six hits with four walks and five strikeouts.  McCawley (9-1) pitched a complete game and limited the Patriots to season lows of one run (previous low 3) and four hits (previous low 6).
 
Davis was the lone Patriot with multiple hits as he went 2-for-3.