FLORENCE, S.C. – Shortstop Allie Aleman and catcher Kayla Ruede each delivered two-run hits in a four-run fifth inning as 16th-ranked Francis Marion University rallied for a 5-3 win over Georgia College & State University, and to gain a split of Sunday afternoon’s (March 25) Peach Belt Conference doubleheader. GCSU first baseman Chelsea Wilson stroked a key two-run single and the Lady Bobcat defense threw out two Patriot runners at home plate en route to a 5-2 victory in game one.
Francis Marion now stands at 28-10 overall and 8-6 in the PBC, while GCSU is 25-13 and 6-4. FMU plays host to Mount Olive College for a doubleheader on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
GCSU took a 3-0 lead in game two in the top of the opening frame. Designated player Jordan Tharp doubled home a pair of runs and then later scored on a passed ball. Francis Marion got one run back in the second when Reude doubled home a run, but the Patriots, who had runners at second and third with no outs, did not score again in the inning.
In the decisive fifth inning, Aleman hit a one-out double to right center field that plated two runs, and after a strikeout, Ruede hit a two-run single that just eluded the outstretched glove of a leaping Deidra Baitey at the center field fence.
Freshman left-hander Michaela Wolf (19-8) silenced the GCSU bats after the three-run first inning. She allowed only four hits, while striking out eight. FMU senior left fielder Jenna Sexton was 3-for-4, while both Aleman and Ruede had two hits.
Tharp (2-for-2) was the lone Lady Bobcats with two hits in the second contest. Junior righty Libby Kidd (3-2) took the loss for GCSU as she allowed four runs in four innings.
Sophomore right-hander Mandy Chandler (15-6) limited FMU to only four hits in the opener. Leadoff batter Deidra Baitey was 2-for-4 and scored twice, including once on a wild pitch by Wolf in the top of the first inning that staked GCSU to an early 1-0 advantage.
Wilson’s hit to right center was part of a three-run fourth frame that gave GCSU a 4-0 lead. FMU cut the deficit in half when Wolf hit a two-run home run to right center in the bottom of the fifth inning. That drive ended a scoreless streak for FMU that had reached 23 innings.
Francis Marion loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth inning, but GCSU left fielder Allison Schwimer threw out Shannan Tyson trying to score on a fly ball out. After GCSU added an insurance run in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly by Keidra Baitey, another Patriot runner was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a double by Wolf. This time, Schwimer and shortstop Lindsey Swanson combined to get the ball to catcher Shelbie Lindsey who applied the tag.
