Shuey and Forshee rally Francis Marion past Catawba 11-7 in NCAA Baseball Regional

AIKEN, SC - Sophomore first baseman Preston Shuey drove in four runs with a pair of hits and righty reliever Brandon Forshee pitched 6.1 strong innings to help seventh-ranked and second-seeded Francis Marion University rally past 21st-ranked and fourth-seeded Catawba College 11-7, late Friday night (May 15) in a winners' bracket game of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Baseball Tournament.

Francis Marion (38-13-1) extends its school-record winning streak to 17 games and advances to face sixth-seeded Belmont Abbey College in a winners' bracket game on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. The Patriots continue to improve on their second-highest win total in team history (41 is the record).

Catawba (36-17) suffers its first loss of the double-elimination tournament and will face fifth-ranked and top-seeded USC Aiken in an elimination game on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Eight of the nine Patriot starters collected a hit. In addition to Shuey, Alex Lee and Jared Barkdoll also rapped out two hits. Barkdoll tied the school's career record for doubles with his 50th two-bagger.

Ryan Query (2-for-5), Brett Hatley (2-for-5), Kevin McMillan (2-for-5), and Zeb Link (2-for-3) paced the Catawba attack. Query and McMillan both drove in two runs each, while left fielder Cameron White homered.

Catawba scored five times in the bottom of the second inning to lead 5-0, ignited by White's solo shot over the left field fence. Hartley, Query, McMillan, and Craige Lyerly all delivered run-scoring hits.

Francis Marion chipped away at the deficit scoring twice in the third (without a hit), once in the fourth, and four times in the fifth to lead 7-5. Catawba trimmed the margin to 7-6 with a single run in the bottom of the fifth, but FMU responded with four runs in the sixth to lead 11-6. Shuey laced a two-out 3-run double down the left field line in the sixth, and he came across to score on an RBI single up the middle by Josh Biggers.

Forshee (5-2) relieved the Patriot starter in the second and allowed just one run on three hits in his longest outing of the season. His previous long outing was 4.1 innings in last weekend's Peach Belt Conference Tournament, and this was only the third time in 2009 he has pitched as much as 4.0 innings in a game.

FMU junior Barrett Kleinknecht moved from shortstop to the mound to record the final four outs.

Catawba reliever Travis McSweeney (3-2) took the loss.

Because earlier tournament action was delayed by rain, the game did not begin until 8:58 p.m. and ended at 11:50 p.m. at USCA's Roberto Hernandez Stadium.