Sommerville celebrates warmer weather with win as #3 Patriots edge Newberry 5-4
NEWBERRY, SC - Senior right-handed pitcher Erik Sommerville pitched six strong innings and sophomore left fielder Tyler Boyd collected three hits to help third-ranked Francis Marion University to a 5-4 non-conference win over Newberry College, Tuesday afternoon (Feb. 23) in baseball action.
The Patriots improve to 9-2, while Newberry drops to 9-5. FMU will play a home-and-away series with Benedict College this weekend. The two teams will meet in Columbia on Saturday at 1 p.m. and in Florence on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Boyd, who went 0-for-4 on Sunday after opening the season with a nine-game hitting streak, rebounded with a 3-for-5 effort that included a run scored and a run batted in. Outfield mates Graham Couch and Alex Lee both collected two hits apiece and each drove in a run.
Sommerville improved to 3-0 as he allowed three runs on six hits. He struck out five and walked only one. Junior righty Patrick Mincey followed with two scoreless innings, and senior Brandon Forshee earned his fifth save of 2010 despite allowing one run in the ninth inning. He stranded two runners on base by striking out Chris Love to end the game.
Boyd's RBI single to center field gave FMU a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Newberry tied the game on a solo home run by Sanchez Gartman in the bottom of the frame. The Patriots took a 3-1 advantage in the second inning when Couch singled home Jacob Wallace and Tyler Cappelmann scored on an RBI ground out by Lee.
The margin increased to 4-1 on a sacrifice fly by Barrett Kleinknecht in the fourth, and later to 5-1 following an RBI-double by catcher Logan Bland in the fifth.
Newberry scored twice in the sixth to trim the lead to 5-3. Despite allowing three base runners in the seventh and one more in the eighth, Mincey kept Newberry off the scoreboard.
FMU junior first baseman Preston Shuey extended his hitting streak to eight games with a seventh-inning single. The three FMU pitchers combined to fan 10 Newberry batters, and the Patriots defense did not commit an error.
Newberry starter Hunter Cox (0-1) was tagged with the loss.
#3 Francis Marion 5, Newberry 4 (Feb 23, 2010 at Newberry, S.C.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Francis Marion...... 120 110 000 - 5 12 0 (9-2) Newberry............ 100 002 001 - 4 10 2 (9-5) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Francis Marion - Erik Sommerville; Patrick Mincey(7); Brandon Forshee(9). Newberry - Hunter Cox; Evan Brown(3); Quackenbush(4); Wayne Potts(6); Dale Bennett(7). Win-Erik Sommerville(3-0) Save-Brandon Forshee(5) Loss-Hunter Cox(0-1) T-2:42 A-260 HR NEW - Sanchez Gartman (3).
Erik Sommerville
