April 1, 2000
FURMAN'S TOMMY JOHN HITS FOR
CYCLE, CRACKS GAME WINNING HOME RUN
IN 10TH INNING TO LIFT FURMAN TO DOUBLEHEADER SWEEP OF APPALACHIAN STATE
GREENVILLE -- Tommy John hit for the cycle and belted a one-out solo home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift Furman to a 5-4 win and doubleheader sweep of visiting Appalachian State Saturday afternoon at Furman Stadium.
With the two victories, Furman (13-16-1, 8-5-1 SoCon), which topped Appalachian State (5-25-1, 4-9 SoCon) 8-7 in game one, extended its winning streak to seven games, the program's longest since 1971.
John, who went 4-for-5 and with three RBI in game two, singled in a pair of runs in the third inning, triple and scored in the sixth, and doubled in the eighth. His game winning home run off Appalachian State reliever Brian Sheehan (0-2) cleared the left field fence and made a winner of reliever Rob Purvis (2-0), who earlier surrendered a game tying single to the Mountaineers' Chris Behne in the top of the ninth inning. Purvis retired the Mountaineers in order in the top of the 10th to set up John's decisive blast.
In game one, John went 3-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs to spark the Paladins to the win.
The Paladins tagged Mountaineer starter Tyson Blocker (1-4) for seven consecutive hits and five runs in the second inning to take a 5-1 lead. Furman added single runs in the third, fourth, and sixth innnings to stretch its lead to 8-1 behind starter Tom Mastny (3-1) before the Mountaineers answered with five runs in the eighth inning on a RBI groundout by Jason Howell, RBI singles by Wes Timmons and Michael Lee, and a pair of wild pitches that led to two runs.
Appalachian State's Ronnie Huffstetler's one-out home run in the ninth inning off relievver Mike Feldhaus trimmed Furman's lead to 8-7, but Feldhaus recovered by retiring Nick Baughn on a fly and Jason Howell on a strikeout to end the game.
The Paladins and Mountaineers complete the three-game conference series Sunday with a single game beginning at 1:00 p.m.
Game 1 Box Score