(Interesting Notes about Patriot athletics)

Francis Marion University senior right fielder Bert Beatson ranked 17th in triples per game according to the final 1999 NCAA Division II baseball statistics. The Sumter native recorded six triples in 42 games this past spring for a 0.14 per game average, tying him with sophomore second baseman Kevin Perkins of the University of California-Riverside. As a team, Francis Marion ranked 15th in triples per game. The Patriots hit 17 three-baggers in 42 games for a 0.40 per game average. FMU finished the 1999 season with a 14-28 record. In 1992, Bert’s older brother Brad ranked 22nd in Division II in triples with five in 41 games (0.12 per game).

Former Francis Marion University women’s basketball coach Sherri Tynes is the girls’ basketball head coach at E.A. Laney High School in Wilmington, N.C., the alma mater of basketball superstar Michael Jordan. Tynes piloted the Patriot women’s program for two seasons, recording a 23-6 mark in 1988-89 and a 20-10 mark in 1989-90. She left FMU to accept the women’s head coaching position at UNC Wilmington. Altogether, of the seven head coaches who preceeded current FMU cage mentor Lee Buchanan, four left Francis Marion to take NCAA Division I head coaching positions.

Heading into the 1999 season, Francis Marion University men’s soccer coach Murray Hartzler owns a 134-105-26 coaching record. His 134 victories place him 21st on the wins list for active NCAA Division II men’s coaches, while his .555 winning percentage places him 46th on the list of winningest active Division II men’s coaches. Oh by the way…….in four years of coaching the Patriot women’s team, he has compiled a 52-17-2 (.746 winning percentage).