FLORENCE - The No. 16-ranked Francis Marion baseball team scored four runs in the first inning and never looked back as the Patriots defeated Lander, 9-1, Saturday afternoon in a Peach Belt Conference game.
The series will conclude Sunday with a doubleheader which starts at 1 p.m.
Francis Marion improves to 25-8 overall and 10-3 in the PBC, while Lander is 18-15, 6-6.
FMU's Don Sandifer (8-1) earned the win as he struck out six, walked two and allowed one earned run on five hits in eight innings pitched.
Lander's Cory Hopper (5-2) took the loss, striking out three and allowing nine earned runs on 11 hits in four innings pitched.
The Patriots streaked out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning on RBI singles by Preston Shuey and Buddy Sosnoskie and a two-RBI single by Dalton Gress.
FMU added two more runs in the second when Brian Paulhus scored on Brock McCallister's groundout and Shuey's single plated Michael Wilson.
Francis Marion completed its scoring in the fourth with John Jones' three-run homer over the centerfield fence.
Lander scored its lone run in the eighth after Erik Lunde's double plated AJ Nunziato.
Nunziato (2-for-4), Lunde (1-for-4), and May (2-for-3) all doubled for Lander.
