Patriot Baseball #2, hosts Coker on Tuesday

Coming off a perfect 3-0 week, Francis Marion University climbed one spot to second in this week's Collegiate Baseball Magazine NCAA Division II Top 30 poll, the highest ranking ever for the Patriot program.

The previous highest ranking for FMU was third last week and in the May 22, 2006 poll, just prior to Francis Marion's appearance in the Division II College World Series.

Francis Marion is currently 11-2 and will play host to local rival Coker College (10-7) on Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m.  The Patriots open Peach Belt Conference play this weekend with a three-game home series against USC Aiken.

Florida Southern College (13-1) lost once last week, but maintained its No.1 ranking in the poll.  Southern Arkansas University (12-3) went 4-1 last week and dropped from second to fourth.

In addition to the Patriots, four other Peach Belt Conference schools appear in this week's rankings. USCA is among the other schools receiving votes.

Francis Marion was listed 12th in Collegiate Baseball's 2010 preseason poll and had been ranked eighth, seventh, and third in the three previous regular-season polls.

Dating back to the 2005 season, the Patriots have now appeared in 83 of the past 89 national polls.