Francis Marion Inks Charlotte Backstop

FLORENCE, S.C. – Francis Marion University baseball coach Art Inabinet has announced the signing of catcher Taylor Patterson of Charlotte to a national letter of intent to attend FMU this fall and play for the Patriots in 2010.

Patterson, 6-1 195-pounds, is a product of Ardrey Kell High School, where he played for coach Hal Bagwell.

This past season, he hit .313 and was team captain as Ardrey Kell posted a 27-8 record and won the North Carolina 4A state title.
As a junior, he also batted .313 with an on-base percentage of .516. He threw out 40 percent of the base runners attempting to steal against him and led his squad with a .985 fielding percentage. He helped lead the Knights to a 28-6 record, the 4A Western Regional championship, and a spot in the 4A state championship series.

He owns Ardrey Kell’s all-time record for highest fielding percentage (.989).

“Taylor is a good defensive catch-and-throw guy,” said Inabinet. “He will have a chance to compete for playing time behind the plate as a freshman.”

Francis Marion loses four seniors off last year’s 38-15-1 squad that finished second during the Peach Belt Conference regular season, won the PBC Tournament title, and earned its fourth NCAA Division II national tournament bid in the past seven years, placing third at the Southeast Regional. The Patriots were ranked 14th in the end-of-the-season Collegiate Baseball Magazine NCAA Division II Top 30 poll.

He becomes the sixth newcomer to the Patriot program joining catcher Logan Bland of Charleston, infielder and right-handed pitcher Tyler Cappelmann of Sumter, right-handed pitchers Don Sandifer of Bamberg and Will Smith of Blythewood and outfielder Dalton Gress of Aiken.