By WRBL Staff
CSU Sports Information
AIKEN, SC - Francis Marion's Eric Sommerville pitched into the seventh inning and Justin Greene hit a two-run home run as the Patriots staved off elimination from the PBC Tournament by beating Columbus State 4-2 on Friday afternoon. The loss was the first of the tournament for the Cougars, who will play again on Saturday morning at 11 AM against Georgia College & State in an elimination game. Francis Marion will play at 3:00 PM on Saturday against the winner of the USC Aiken/Armstrong Atlantic State contest on Friday night.CSU Sports Information
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Stumble It!Sommerville (W, 6-3) walked some and hit a batter, but did not allow a hit to the Cougars until the third inning. The sidearm righty allowed
nine hits, all singles, two runs, four walks, and six strikeouts in his 6.1 innings of work.
Francis Marion jumped out to an early lead as Greg Phelps took the third pitch that CSU starter Danny Davidson (L, 7-4) threw over the right field fence for a 1-0 lead. The Patriots scored again later in the first as Greene was plunked with the next pitch, moved to second on a wild pitch, went to third on a ground out and scored on a second groundout.
Columbus State finally got to Sommerville in the fourth with a run as the Cougars got three straight two-out singles, the third from Brad Bowen that scored Aaron Beasley. Tyler Baughman also tried to score from second on the play, but was gunned out at home by FMU rightfielder Trent Knight.
Greene was plunked in his next at-bat for FMU in the third and may have had a bit of extra motivation when he faced Davidson again in the
fifth. With a runner on, the senior took the third pitch he saw and sent it over the right field wall for a two-run homer, his eighth of the season.
Down 4-1, Columbus State cut that lead again with another run in the bottom of the fifth as Thomas Morrison singled through the right side to score Jonnie Geiger. But that would be the last run the Cougars would plate. CSU had another great opportunity in the seventh as they
loaded the bases, but FMU reliever Zach Farry closed the door on the inning and he proceeded to shut down the Cougars for the rest of the game, picking up his 13th save after pitching 2.2 innings of one-hit ball.
Bowen led the 10-hit CSU attack with a 3-for-4 (RBI) performance. Geiger and Brandon Masters both had two hits. FMU had only five hits,
but Greene's (two-run HR) and Phelps' solo shot proved to be the difference.
Columbus State will have to win twice on Saturday to continue to Sunday’s championship round. FMU will have only the one game on Saturday
