FLORENCE, S.C. — There’s a reason baseball coaches talk frequently about two-out hitting. If a team can do it effectively, it can make a huge difference in the outcomes of games, and even seasons.

It helped turn a potential series win by Francis Marion into a sweep by The University of North Carolina at Pembroke’s baseball team Saturday.

The Braves used two-out hitting in a pair of Saturday victories which, paired with Friday’s win, produced a three-game sweep of the Patriots in the Battle of I-95.

“We’ve just been working really hard on two-strike hitting, and with guys in scoring position trying to be very fundamentally sound. That’s all we’re trying to do,” UNCP coach Paul O’Neil said. “We’re just trying to get it on the fat part of the bat; if we get a hit … some things have to go right with it.”

UNCP (32-13, 20-7 Conference Carolinas) solidified its second-place standing in Conference Carolinas with one regular-season series, next weekend against Emmanuel in Pembroke, still to play. The Braves are three games behind league-leading North Greenville, who owns the head-to-head tiebreaker and has therefore clinched the regular-season conference title; Belmont Abbey (30-15, 18-8 CC) sits 1 1/2 games behind UNCP in the race for second.

“We need to keep winning,” O’Neil said. “We need to keep playing well. We’re playing for something; we want to play in a regional, and we’re playing for the legacy of these seniors. They’ve been fortunate enough to go to several regionals in their career, and they want another one, so we’re going to play really hard going into these last four games and the conference tournament, and see what happens.”

Francis Marion (28-16, 15-12 CC) is a distant fourth in the Conference Carolinas standings after entering the weekend with a chance to catch the Braves for the second position.

Game One

The Braves scored single runs in each of the last three innings in the opener of Saturday’s twin bill, earning a 3-2 win in the seven-inning contest.

Trailing 1-0 after four innings, the Braves’ entire rallies in the fifth and sixth came with two outs. Christian Jayne started the fifth-inning rally with a single and Gage Hammonds singled before Ethan Ott also singled to score Jayne, tying the game at 1-1.

“I’ve been getting a lot of off-speed this weekend so I was looking for something up, and he threw a changeup that he left up and I was able to stay level hit it back through the middle,” Ott said. “That’s all I was looking for was something over the plate that I could handle, and drive in a run.”

An inning later, after two groundouts, Blake Hinson and Wellington Guzman each singled to keep the inning alive. A hard-hit ball by Garrett Littleton resulted in an error that allowed Hinson to score the go-ahead run.

“We were a lot better today with two outs than we were with no outs,” O’Neil said. “We had all of our rallies came with two outs, and it kind of got rolling and went to the next guy and the next guy and they got a hit. Sometimes the ball bounces your way.”

UNCP didn’t have a two-out hit in the seventh; instead they scored because of the second out — a Trent Harris sacrifice fly brought home Hammonds for what turned out to be a key insurance run. Francis Marion scored a run in the bottom of the seventh on a Braves error before a groundout ended the game.

The three late runs by UNCP were enough for Branden Kunz (7-1), who allowed one run on five hits in 5 2/3 innings. Kunz effectively pitched to contact, striking out just one batter.

“I think ground balls early in the game helped my pitch count stay low, so just pitching to contact and not trying to pitch to strike out is what kind of helped me get along through the first four or five innings really smoothly,” Kunz said.

“Branden has been digging extremely deep inside of himself this last month,” O’Neil said. “He’s not going to tell you, but he’s not 100%, and he’s giving it everything he has every time he goes out there, and it’s crucial that we play really good defense behind him.”

The lone run allowed by Kunz even came on an unlucky play; a Tyler Reynolds line drive with two outs in the second went off the junior right-hander’s glove, and he couldn’t initially find the ball on the ground in front of him, allowing Leniel Gonzalez to score from third.

“I jumped up for it and I thought I had it, came down with it, couldn’t find it, looked down at my feet and saw it trickling to first,” Kunz said. “That’s one of those things; tough break, run scores.”

Kunz was relieved by Landen Smith in the sixth, who stranded two on base in that inning and allowed one run on one hit in 1 1/3 innings to earn the save.

Robbie Jordan (7-3) took the loss, scattering eight hits and allowing one earned run in 5 2/3 innings with three strikeouts for the Patriots.

Game Two

In Saturday’s nightcap, UNCP came from behind to earn a 4-2 win over the Patriots, once again cashing in in a two-out situation late in the game — albeit with some help from the Patriots’ defense

Tied 2-2 in the eighth, Trent Harris reached on a two-out infield error allowing Gage Hammonds and Ethan Ott to score. Hammonds and Ott had both reached base with one-out singles.

“(Harris) hit that ball really hard,” O’Neil said. “It all kind of works out, baseball is a percentage-type game. The time before that he hit a scorching line drive that went to the center fielder.”

UNCP had tied the game in the sixth, when Wellington Guzman got the Braves on the scoreboard with a home run on the first pitch of the inning, then Christian Jayne scored on a Bobby Dixon RBI groundout later in the frame.

Francis Marion scored two third-inning runs on an RBI double by Darius Nobles.

The Braves allowed nine hits by the Patriots, who stranded 13 baserunners in the game.

Starter Evan McLean and relievers Gabe Hernandez and Jonathon Jacobs, a Purnell Swett product, each worked over two innings; McLean and Jacobs combined for six walks, but outside of the two-run third the Patriots were kept off the scoreboard by UNCP pitching.

“We didn’t get a quality start out of Evan; you tip your hat to Gabe Hernandez and Jonathon Jacobs, because they bridged that gap,” O’Neil said. “They’re the ones who pieced it (together), and then we got a lead and could get it to Landen.”

Jacobs (3-0) earned the win, allowing three hits in 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Smith got his second save of the day and sixth of the season, striking out four in 1 2/3 hitless innings, totaling three innings pitched for the day.

“He’s been our guy this year that’s pitched in a lot of jams and gotten us out of a lot of stuff, and he’s having a really good year,” O’Neil said.

Francis Marion starter Matt Dooley allowed two runs on five hits in five innings. Reliever Nick Palumbo (2-2) was the losing pitcher.