FLORENCE, S.C. –  Jordan Toney threw seven shutout innings in an 8-4 rubber game and series win for the 24^th-ranked UNC Pembroke baseball team over the Francis Marion Patriots on Sunday night at Sparrow Stadium in Florence. The Braves fell in the earlier game of the doubleheader, 14-8. 
 
The PBC series win was the second-consecutive for the Braves (25-10, 10-10 PBC), who also downed USC Aiken in two-of-three games at Sammy Cox Field last weekend. The Patriots (14-25, 6-18 PBC) snapped a seven-game PBC losing streak with the 14-8 win in the first of the two games, Sunday. It also put an end to a five-game losing streak in the all-time series to the Braves.

Trey Jacobs hit a pair of home runs in the first game of the day, and drove in six runs across the two games. His two and three-run home runs in the first and third innings of game one got the Braves out to an early 5-1 advantage. The Braves lit up the scoreboard for 15 hits in the what was game two of the series, but Francis Marion used a big eight-run eighth, along with 10-consecutive runs in the middle innings to erase the early deficit. 

The Braves were 7-4 leaders after five innings, as Luke Jackson added an RBI single and Seth Hartings connected for an RBI double to back starter Landen Smith. After Smith gave up a two-run home run to Patrick Jackson in the sixth, the Braves turned to Hank Simpson out of the bullpen. He got UNCP out of the inning and fired a 1-2-3 seventh, however, a walk and a single started a nightmare eighth for the Braves. Gunner Deal came in to try and limit the damage, but surrendered an additional two runs, as FMU took a 10-7 lead. The final four runs for the Patriots came unearned off of Thomas DuRant. 

The Braves could only manage an RBI groundout from Trevor Clemons in the ninth, and FMU evened the series with the game-two win.
 
In the second game of the day, the Braves jumped out to an early lead in the final game of the series, thanks to a leadoff single from Roberto Rivera (4-for-5) and a Clemons walk. After a Connor Grainger sacrifice bunt, Jacobs drove in his sixth run of the day on sacrifice fly to left field, and Jackson followed it up with an RBI single to give UNCP a 2-0 advantage.

Toney worked out of trouble in each of the first three innings, holding FMU 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. Toney also tossed his only two strikeouts of the night in the opening frame. The left hander held the Patriots to just a single hit in the middle three innings before giving up the sixth hit of his outing in the seventh. It was the longest outing of the season for Toney.

A key double play in the fifth inning highlighted an error-free final game of the series for the Braves. 

After an RBI double for Grainger in the fifth, UNCP piled on to a 3-0 lead in the eighth with a five-run outburst. Hartings delivered a two-RBI single, followed by an RBI single for Jarratt Mobley up the middle, that allowed a fourth run of the inning to score on a throwing error from second base. Finally Rivera punctuated the scoring with an RBI single of his own, as the Braves brought all nine batters to the plate in the inning. 

Francis Marion did scrape four late runs off of Davis Hurd and Trace Hagler, but the Braves held on for the series win, when Hagler recorded the only out of his outing on a ground ball to second base to seal the Patriots' fate.
 
UNCP is in the middle of an eight-game road trip and continues the road swing with a non-conference matchup against Barton on Tuesday night. First pitch at Nixon Field in Wilson, N.C. is scheduled for 6 p.m.