Darlington Raceway to team with Francis Marion baseball for Race Night on March 8

Darlington Raceway and Francis Marion University athletic officials have announced that the Patriot baseball team will host a Race Night on Friday, March 8, when FMU hosts Lander University.

First-pitch for the game will be at 7 p.m. on Cormell Field at Sparrow Stadium. Admission will be $8 for adults and $5 for students. FMU students will be admitted free with identification and appropriate Swamp Fox Club passes will be honored.

The evening will feature in-game promotions, a ceremonial first-pitch by Darlington Raceway president Chris Browning, and a tribute to a local military veteran – Tony Blackmon, a 1984 Francis Marion graduate. The official pace car will be on hand near the ticket entrance, and tickets for the NASCAR Nationwide Series 200 and the Bojangles’ Southern 500, to be held May 10-11, will be on sale.

“It’s always fun when we can partner with one of our local universities on a program like this,” Browning said. “We appreciate working with the Francis Marion baseball team and look forward to an exciting Race Night this Friday.”

There will be a Race Package giveaway during the seventh-inning stretch with registration near the ticket entrance. The package will include tickets to both races, prerace pit passes, driver intro passes, and pace car rides.

The raceway will also provide a give-away to each fan wearing NASCAR apparel to the game, and will be offering race tickets at a special discounted rate to FMU students.Because of the recent wet weather, the March 8 contest will be the Patriots’ first home game in almost four weeks.

“We are very excited about this partnership,” said FMU director of athletics Murray Hartzler. “This will allow us to bring additional excitement to our new ballpark for an evening of college baseball. We are fortunate to have in our local area one of the crown-jewels of motorsports, and proud that some of its employees are Francis Marion graduates.”

Darlington Raceway PR