BK hits whopper as Patriots rally past Belmont Abbey 12-11

FLORENCE, S.C. — Junior right-hander Barrett Kleinknecht allowed two runs in the top of the 10th inning but then hit a three-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the frame as Francis Marion University rallied for a wild 12-11 win over Belmont Abbey College, Thursday afternoon (April 9) in non-conference baseball action.

Francis Marion improves to 23-13-1, while the Crusaders fall to 25-20. FMU will return to Cormell Field on Friday to open a three-game Peach Belt Conference series against Georgia Southwestern State University with a single game at 6 p.m. Belmont Abbey will play in the Conference Carolinas Tournament, April 16-19, in Wilson, N.C.

Kleinknecht (1-2) picked up his first win of the season after moving from shortstop to the mound in the 10th inning. At the plate, the West Florence product was 4-for-6 with three runs scored, a triple, his fifth homer of the year, and the three runs batted in.

Junior center fielder Martin Gordon also picked up four hits and is 12 for his last 18. Senior third baseman Keon Graves was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs, while right fielder Alex Lee was 2-for-5.

Three Crusaders recorded three hits: center fielder Justin Vasquez (3-for-6), catcher Steve Sobol (3-for-3), and second baseman Carlos Vasquez (3-for-4). Justin Vasquez scored twice and drove in three runs, including an opposite field two-run homer in the third inning.

FMU scored three times in the second inning only to see Belmont Abbey scored seven unanswered runs to lead 7-3. Vasquez’s homer, a fourth-inning RBI single by Josh Frazier, and a sixth-inning grand slam by third baseman Roland Rodriguez accounted for the runs.

Francis Marion then rallied to win by scoring nine runs in its final three at bats. The Patriots entered the game 0-11 this season when trailing after six innings.

Run-scoring ground outs by Jared Barkdoll and Preston Shuey and an RBI single by Tyler Boyd trimmed the margin to 7-6 in the eighth inning. After Belmont Abbey tacked on two runs in the ninth to go up 9-6, again the Patriots rallied.

Lee scored on a balk and Graves stroked a two-out, two-run single to right field to tie the game at 9-9.

In the top of the 10th, Belmont Abbey’s Daniel Kassouf drove in one run with a single and then scored on an RBI double to right by Justin Vasquez.

In the bottom of the inning, Colby Green walked and went to second on a ground out. Trent Knight collected a pinch-hit infield single and Kleinknecht followed with his three-run blast over the left field fence.

Freshman reliever Zach Horne (2-1) suffered the loss.