FLORENCE, S.C. – Francis Marion University occupies the 22nd position in this week’s Collegiate Baseball Magazine NCAA Division II Top 30 poll, released on Monday (May 7), and the Patriots learned they would meet USC Upstate in the opening round of this week’s Peach Belt Conference Tournament.

Francis Marion ended its regular season 35-16 and in third place in the PBC with an 18-12 mark. The 35 wins equal the second-high season total in team history, bettered only by last year’s 41-18 record. FMU has won 14 of its last 17 games.

The six-team, double-elimination Peach Belt Tournament will be played Thursday through Sunday (May 10-13) at Cleveland S. Harley Park in Spartanburg.

FMU faces fourth-seeded USC Upstate (33-23) at 7 p.m. on Thursday in the final opening-round contest. Other first-day action has top-seeded Georgia College & State University (44-12) playing six-seeded USC Aiken (35-20) at 11 a.m. and second-seeded Columbus State University (41-15) meets fifth-seeded Armstrong Atlantic State University (35-20) at 3 p.m.

A first-round victory would put FMU in a winner’s bracket game on Friday at 7 p.m., while a loss would have Francis Marion playing on Friday at 3 p.m.

Francis Marion swept three games from the Spartans in Spartanburg in late February, and the Patriots lead the all-time series 41-21. However, Upstate knocked FMU from the 2006 PBC Tournament with a one-run win in the second round.

Dating back to the 2005 season, the Patriots have appeared in 48 consecutive national polls.

Francis Marion junior right-handed pitcher Dylan Owen is 9-1 and ranks third in the nation in earned run average and strikeouts. Junior lefty reliever Zach Farry is 3-1 with a team-record nine saves and a 1.87 ERA.

At the plate, sophomore Jared Barkdoll leads the Patriots with a .370 average and he owns an 18-game hitting streak.