The Sarge

TOP 9 - Celek goes down on strikes. Greiner up. He walks on six pitches. That means one swing of the bat can tie it. Dantzler ahead in the count 2-1 but swings at a fastball at his eyes. 2-2. Ball three outside. He ropes a single to put runners at the corners. Harrington in to pinch run, Martin pinch hitting for English. Martin grounds the first pitch to first base. The only play is at first. Runner scores, runner on second, two down. Sullivan pinch hitting for Vergason. Tying run on second with two down now. He goes ahead in the count 2-1. Make it 2-2. Sullivan hits a slicing liner to right but it's caught to end this game. FINAL: Francis Marion 5 - Carolina 4. L: Westmoreland (2-1) HR: Walker (7). USC (24-10) hosts Mississippi State this weekend.

BOTTOM 8 - Privette out to begin the inning. Long fly ball to right field by Reed. Matthews was tracking it, but he just missed the ball on his leap against the wall. It hit off the top of the wall and stayed in the park. The wall can't be but six feet or so out there, so he just missed it. Not like he couldn't reach it. Infield coming in. Privette still on the mound and strikes out Weatherford for the first out. Make that two strikeouts. He's throwing that 65 mph curve ball. Logan Munson called upon to get LHH and leadoff guy Michael Wilson. Munson gets a ground ball to Walker at first base. Gamecocks down to their final three outs still down 5-3.

TOP 8 - Tanner English hits a rope towards third. The ball is gloved, but dropped. I can't see third base due to a computer monitor in my way, but the ball got away. English stopped running to first base and no one is overly happy with him as he's thrown out at first base. One down. Roth pinch hits and walks. Costen comes in to run. Probably a bad move. Marzilli singles to center. Costen makes a big turn around second and the centerfielder was conceding him third base. Came up throwing in to the cutoff man. For some reason, Costen stops midway and starts to go back to second base. He's caught in a rundown and tagged out. That was not not not good. Matthews walks to put two on with two outs for Walker. Got the guy you want at the plate. One swing could tie it. Walker grounds a full-count pitch back up the middle to bring in one run. Pankake takes a slider just outside to begin the count. Pankake goes down swinging. Tried to check his swing but couldn't. Francis Marion leads 5-3

BOTTOM 7 - Nine-hole hitter Golliday walks to begin the inning off of Sullivan. Sullivan ahead in the count 1-2 to Wilson but the count works back to 3-2. Wilson hits a line drive one-hopper to Payne, which hit off the heel of his glove. Payne recovers and flips to second to get the force play. If fielded cleanly, it would have been an easy double play. That will be the last pitch that Sullivan throws as he gives way to Evan Beal. He gets Boyd swinging on a sharp breaking ball. Two down. Wilson swipes second on a 2-0 pitch to Hibbs, who ends up walking to put two on with two down. Sosnoskie walks. That loads the bases. Beal doesn't have his command tonight. Tarkenton up and hits a sharp grounder back through the box to score a pair. It's getting late here and FMU is looking good. Privette comes in and gets the final out on his first pitch - a fly ball to right. FMU leads 5-2

TOP 7 - Celek bounces back to the mound. One down. Payne bounces the first pitches he sees to second base. Three pitches, two outs. LB Dantzler launches a long fly ball to deep center. It's caught on the track by Sosnoskie for the final out of the inning. Five pitches, I believe. FMU leads 3-2.

BOTTOM 6 - Sullivan still out there for the Gamecocks. He gets a little tapper towards third base. Dantzler makes another nice play charging. Reed goes down looking at a nice fastball on the inside half. Eight-hole pinch hitter Austin Smetana goes down on a breaking ball in the dirt for the final out of the inning. FMU leads 3-2.

TOP 6 - Adam Matthews hits a 3-2 pitch right on the screws but it's right at the shortstop. McCallister in self defense mode as he makes the catch for the first out of the inning. Walker goes down swinging on an offspeed pitch for the second out of the inning. If anyone could bat 1.000, it'd be Walker, but he does get out occasionally. Pankake with another hard-hit ball, but it's fielded on the one-hop by Hibbs, who throws to first for the final out of the inning. FMU leads 3-2.

BOTTOM 5 - Hibbs up. He grounds to third and Dantzler makes a nice play over there for the first out of the inning. Sosnoskie flies out to deep left field. English gets back there to make the play. The ball carries in this park pretty well. Slow roller towards third. Another nice play by Dantzler. FMU leads 3-2.

TOP 5 - Payne leading off the inning with a fly ball out to left field. Nothing doing there but an out. English digs in. Balk called on a 1-2 pitch moving Dantzler up to second base. English works the count full, but goes down swinging on a changeup at his eyes for the second out of the inning. Rosenberg with a solid single back up the middle to score Dantzler. Marzilli grounds to the four-hole. First baseman was going for it as well. Second baseman fields, pitcher covers. 4-1 on the putout. It was definitely close. I thought he might be safe. Francis Marion leads 3-2

BOTTOM 4 - Sullivan back to the mound. Reed ropes a single to right field to begin the inning. Jones is asked to bunt him up, but he fouls off the two-strike pitch for a strikeout. One down. Pankake gets a slow jump on a single through the left side. Even if he got it right off the bat, I'm not sure he could have fielded it cleanly enough to make the play at first. Puts two on and two down. Bouncer back up the middle. Pankake fields behind the bag, changes directions, and steps on it for the final out of the inning. FMU leads 3-1.

TOP 4 - Matthews bunts at the first pitch. It's a pretty good bunt, but Broderick scrambles over and makes a nice play down the first base line. Christian Walker up and he turns on a breaking ball. He launches it deep over the scoreboard in left field. That joker was crushed. Puts the Gamecocks on the board. Pankake gives one a ride, but it's caught on the track in left field. Celek knocks the first pitch towards third base. It's knocked down and thrown to first for the final out of the inning. Francis Marion leads 3-1

BOTTOM 3 - Good start to the inning for Westy. Gets a ground ball to second and a line drive out to left. This game is moving right along here. Top-of-the-order hitter Wilson up and he lashes a single to centerfield for the second hit of the night for the Patriots. Boyd drops a bunt single back to the mound. Westy pounces but his throw is just late. Two on, two down. Hibbs grounds one just foul of the third base bag. That woulda scored one. Next pitch is a single to center. Marzilli's throw is late and off line. Three straight singles puts FMU on top. Make it four straight singles, this one by Sosnoskie, to score another run. Patrick Sullivan coming in to pitch now for the Gamecocks ending Westy's day. Sullivan uncorks a wild pitch, but it was something that should have been blocked. Right through the wickets. Scores another run. Sully throws a full count pitch in the dirt to walk Tarkenton. Runners at the corners now for McCallister, who is the eighth hitter of the inning. Marzilli catches a fly ball in shallow right center to end the inning. Francis Marion leads 3-0

TOP 3 - Three quick outs for Broderick. English goes down on strikes. Rosenberg grounds the first pitch he sees to second and Marzilli pops up a bunt on the first pitch. Six pitch inning, I believe. No score.

BOTTOM 2 - Former Virginia Tech-er Buddy Sosnoskie takes a hack at the first pitch and the lefty grounds it right to Walker at first base. One down. Tarkenton, great nephew of Fran, singles back up the middle. Payne bobbles a routine double play ball, but gathers in time to throw to first to get the out. No error given because he got one out. Runner in second. Pop foul down the left field line. English tracks it down in the ample amount of foul ground. No score.

TOP 2 - Celek up and is out in front of a changeup. Pops it up to deep short for out number one. Payne ropes a single to left to give the Gamecocks another runner. First pitch is a hit-and-run with Dantzler. He hits a chopper back to the mound but it's fielded easily to start a 1-6-3 double play to end the inning. No score.

BOTTOM 1 - Westmoreland taking the mound for the Gamecocks. He's really been on fire in the midweek starts. Sets down Wilson on a changeup to begin the game. Boyd gets a good piece of a fastball from Westy and lines it to left field English makes a great running catch for the second out of the inning. Got a pretty good jump and used his speed to get there. Soft roller to short from Hibbs. Pankake makes the play. No score.

TOP 1 - Soft-tossing lefty Matt Broderick toes the rubber for the Patriots. He gets the first two - Marzilli on strikes annd Matthews to ground to third. Walker, fresh off his three-hit night, lines a single to right center. Pankake bounces back to the mound though to end the inning. No score.

Sorry I'm late today, folks. I got caught up at a high school game for longer than I thought I would and the drive over here was longer than I thought ... I'm not a great planner. It is an absolutely beautiful park though. It seats about 800 and holds another 800 for standing room. Very nice place and one FMU should be proud of.

South Carolina

CF - Evan Marzilli
RF - Adam Matthews
1B - Christian Walker
SS - Joey Pankake
DH - Brison Celek
2B - Erik Payne
3B - LB Dantzler
LF - Tanner English
C - Dante Rosenberg

LHP Adam Westmoreland

Francis Marion

3B - Michael Wilson
LF - Tyler Boyd
2B - Tyler Hibbs
CF - Buddy Sosnoskie
1B - Stephen Tarkenton
SS - Brock McCallister
RF - Jarrod Reed
DH - John Jones
C - Jacob Golliday

LHP Matt Broderick

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