SoCon Tournament Game 13: Furman 11, The Citadel 1
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Furman pitcher Corey Etheridge threw a four-hitter and Paladin shortstop Danny Rueckel clubbed a three-run homer to help lead Furman to an 11-1 win over The Citadel in Game 13 of the 2000 Wendy's/Pepsi-Cola Southern Conference Tournament Saturday afternoon at Riley Park.
The loss eliminated The Citadel from the championship event and propelled Furman into the 3:00 championship game against Georgia Southern. Etheridge, just 6-7 with an ERA of over 6.00 during the regular season, held the Bulldogs without a hit through five innings.
He walked two and struck out six in going the distance for his first win of the tournament. Furman scored all the runs they would need with three runs in the second inning.
Ryan Presnell led off the frame with a double and scored on an RBI single by Rueckel.Tommy John drew a walk before Cole Hubka's sacrifice bunt moved John to second and Rueckel to third.
After a walk to Justin Maderer to load the bases, Clint Hill hit a ground ball to third that took a bad hop and sailed over third baseman Dallas McPhersons shoulder, leading to two runs. The Paladins delivered the knockout punch with a six-run fourth inning. Furman sent 11 players to the plate with Chris Valdes and Maderer each collecting doubles.
The killing blow was shortstop Rueckel's three-run homer to left that scored the last three runs of the inning.
T.A. Fulmer, who had started the inning on the mound for The Citadel in relief of starter T.W. Mincey, yielded all six earned runs in just two-thirds of an inning. Furman added two runs in the sixth on an RBI double by Hubka and a run-scoring single by Etherington. The first Bulldog hit came when Michael Harris led off the sixth with an infield single.
Etheridge lost the shutout with two outs in the eighth when Stuart Jordan singled to right to score Harris. Rueckel finished the game with three hits and four RBI while Hill went two for five with three RBI.
Five Citadel pitchers yielded 15 hits while walking three and striking out just two.