FLORENCE, SC – Sophomore right-hander Clayton Knight scattered seven hits and struck out 13 and his battery mate catcher Kyle Brewer drove in four runs as Limestone College snapped a seven-game losing streak with an 8-3 non-conference win over 27th-ranked Francis Marion University, Wednesday evening (March 26) in college baseball action.
Limestone evens its record at 19-19, while Saints’ head coach Chico Lombardo, a 1979 FMU graduate and a former Patriot outfielder, snaps a three-game losing streak against his alma mater. FMU drops to 22-13 and will next host North Georgia College & State University in a key Peach Belt Conference series this weekend. The series will start with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Knight (4-1) walked only two, threw 147 pitches, and came with one out of a complete game before Chris Zimmerman came on to end a brief Patriot rally in the ninth and register the final out.
Limestone scored a pair of unearned runs off FMU starter Ed Paul (3-2) in the second inning. After a two-out throwing error prolonged the inning, Brewer plated two runs with a double off the top of the left field fence. Francis Marion trimmed the margin to 2-1 when freshman Preston Shuey drove in Justin Greene with an infield single in the fourth frame. However, with no outs and two runners on base, the Patriots were unable to inflict any more damage against Knight.
Limestone then scored three times in the sixth, on a bases-loaded walk to Ron Torrance and a 2-run single by Brewer. The Saints added three insurance runs in the ninth to lead 8-1, before FMU scored twice in its last at bat on RBI hits by Bryan Brown and Greg Phelps.
Brewer, Zach Watkins, Phillip Soden, and Drew Lydon all had two hits for the Saints, while Phelps and Shuey paced Francis Marion with two hits apiece.
