FLORENCE, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken baseball team garnered a 14-1 win at Francis Marion Saturday.

The Pacers are now 9-3 overall and 2-0 in the PBC. The Patriots fall to 8-5 on the year and 5-3 in league play.

Zach Rafuse got the starting nod on the mound, throwing six innings. He gave up one hit and one walk while striking out seven while picking up the win. William Ard put in two innings worth of work while allowing two hits and striking two out. Will Varnadore was on the mound for an inning and struck out one.


The Pacers got on the board with a run in the second inning. After Blake Jenkins reached on an error, Cary Holloway pushed a single through the right side, moving Jenkins to second. With one down and runners on second and third, Jackson Hannon slapped a single to right field, bringing Jenkins across home base and make it 1-0.
 
USC Aiken plated two more runs in the third. Sean McQuillan started things off with a bunt single to third base. He proceeded to steal second and continue on to third via an error by the catcher. After Conner Durden slammed a double down the right field line to bring McQuillan home, Luke Leisenring threaded a double in the opposite direction down the left field line to bring Durden in and make it 3-0.

Although FMU made it 3-1 in the fourth, the Pacers scored four more runs in the top of the very next inning. Capitalizing on walks from Alex Mills and Leisenring, Holloway blasted a single through the right side and moved on to second on the throw as Leisenring moved over to third and Mills came home. With Trey Polewski drawing a walk, Hannon followed up with a single to left field to bring both Leisenring and Holloway across home plate. Chandler Rogers closed out the scoring for the inning with a single of his own to right field, bringing Polewski home and making it 7-1.

USC Aiken plated four more runs in the sixth. Mills started things via a leadoff home run. After Durden came through with a walk and Leisenring was hit by a pitch, Jenkins belted a homer to left center, bringing everyone around and making it 11-1.

The Pacers scored three more in the eighth. With one man down, Polewski shot a single to right field and then went all the way around to third on a throwing error as Hannon reached on a fielder's choice. Rogers followed up with a single that brought Polewski home and moved Hannon to second. McQuillan pushed his own single to center, allowing Hannon to cross home and Rogers to moved up to second. After Mills slapped a single to left center, Durden vaulted a sacrifice fly out to left to bring Rogers home for the final tally.

For the game, Mills led the team with three hits while Hannon, Holloway, McQuillan and Rogers all had two. Durden, Leisenring, Jenkins and Polewski grabbed one hit apiece.
 
The Pacers return to action Sunday afternoon as they take on Francis Marion in the third and final game of the series at 1 p.m.