FLORENCE, SC – Senior center fielder Quentin Davis homered, drove in four runs, and scored three times to lead Francis Marion University to a 9-4 win over Wingate University, Wednesday afternoon (Feb. 16) in non-conference baseball action.

FMU improves to 6-2 and hands head coach Art Inabinet his 199th career coaching win, while Wingate drops to 2-8.  Inabinet will go after win No. 200 on Thursday when the Patriots entertain Benedict College at 3 p.m.

Davis led off the bottom of the Patriot first with a walk.  He stole second, the first of two stolen bases for the Darlington native, and scored on Luke Ogletree’s two-run single.  Davis ended the game two-for-four as did Ogletree and shortstop Jason Weaver.

FMU starter Chas Dobes (2-1) held Wingate to one run in six innings despite allowing seven hits.  Wingate freshman righty Chris Alfonso (0-2) allowed FMU’s first three runs and was tagged with the loss.

Wingate trimmed the margin to 2-1 with a Keith Benton RBI-single in the top of the fifth inning.  In the bottom of the frame, Weaver restored the lead to two runs (3-1) with a solo home run to left field.

FMU upped its advantage to 7-1 thanks to a two-run single by Davis and a two-run double by freshman Danny Mattonelli in the sixth inning.

Wingate rallied for three unearned runs in the eighth inning, trimming the lead to 7-4.  Tim Bowman delivered a run-scoring single and Ian Martin pounded a two-run double to left field.  Bowman, Martin, Benton, and Kirk Matthews all ended the game two-for-four to highlight the Wingate attack.

In the last of the eighth, Davis accounted for FMU’s final two runs with a towering home run to right field that landed on the FMU Softball Field.  The four-baggers by Weaver and Davis were Francis Marion’s first home runs of the 2005 season.

Wingate returns home for a four-game series with 12th-ranked Shippensburg University this weekend, starting with a 2 p.m. game on Friday.