FLORENCE, SC – Sophomore pitchers Erik Sommerville and Cory Deering combined to allow no earned runs in 11 innings as 20th-ranked Francis Marion University swept a non-conference baseball doubleheader, 5-0 and 3-2, from Davis & Elkins College, Saturday afternoon (Feb. 16).
Francis Marion has won its last eight games, and at 10-1 is off to the best start in the program’s 36-year history. Davis & Elkins was playing its season opener. The two teams will conclude the three-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Sommerville (2-0) allowed only one single in seven innings to capture the win in game one. He fanned eight and walked only one.
Senior shortstop Greg Phelps tripled to lead off the bottom of the first and scored on a balk to give FMU the only run it would need. He and catcher Jared Barkdoll both had two hits in the game, while the Patriots got RBIs from Justin Greene, Tyler Lehman, and Shawn Summers.
Ryan Flannagan (0-1) took the loss for Davis & Elkins. Leftfielder Adam Thompson (2-for-4) was the lone Senator with two hits in the opener.
Phelps also singled and scored in game two to extend his hitting streak to 19 games.
Deering (3-0) won his third game of 2008 as he allowed only three hits and one unearned run in four innings of game two. Senior lefty Zach Farry earned his fifth save with two scoreless innings in relief.
FMU scored all three of its runs in the third frame. One run came home on an error, while Preston Shuey hit a sacrifice fly and Lehman singled home the final run.
Davis & Elkins added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Thompson singled home Ryan Miller in the fourth and Josh Lopez scored on a balk in the fifth frame.
Senior righty Blake Rogers was the losing pitcher in game two, although he allowed only five hits in seven innings and all three runs were unearned. No Senator had more than one hit in the second contest.
