CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Freshman Clint Hill's one out squeeze bunt in
the bottom of the eighth inning scored Corey Etherington from third
base to
lift Furman to a 3-2 victory over East Tennessee State in Game One
of the 2000
Wendy's/Pepsi-Cola Southern Conference Baseball Tournament at Joe Riley
Park Wednesday afternoon.
Etherington opened the bottom half of the eighth by lining a
double to rightfield off Buccaneer starter and loser Matthew Baber
(10-7).
Etherington advanced to second on James Bright's sacrifice bunt to
third base to set up Furman's go-ahead run.
Rob Purvis (3-2) pitched the final two innings to earn the win in
relief of Corey Etheridge, who allowed one run on five hits and stuck
out a
career-high 12 in seven innings of work.
Furman (24-29-1) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third inning.
Danny Rueckel led off the frame with a double, moved to third on
Etherington's flyout to rightfield and scored on Buccaneer shortstop
Jeremy
Terry's fielding error. East Tennessee State quickly answered with
a run
in the top of the fourth when Danny Pugh reached on a strike three
wild pitch
and came around to score on Chad Boruff's two-out double down the leftfield
line.
The Paladins benefitted from another ETSU miscue to reclaim the
lead in the bottom half of the fourth inning when Chris Valdes, who
opened the
inning with a double, came home when Buccaneer third baseman Ryan
McKinney committed a throwing error on Cole Hubka's one out groundball.
East Tennessee State (21-30) rallied to even the contest in the
top of the eighth inning when Boruff drew a two out walk and advanced
to
second on a wild pitch. After Chris Mayes was inserted as a pinch
runner,
Nate Copeland made it a 2-2 game with a single to right-center off
Purvis.
Baber, who threw only 75 pitches in turning in his league-leading
ninth complete game, allowed just four hits, and no walks while striking
out six.
Furman advances to meet the winner of top-seeded Georgia Southern
and eighth-seed Appalachian State Thursday at 4:00 p.m., while East
Tennessee State falls into the loser's bracket and will face the loser
of
the Eagle-Mountaineer matchup at 10:00 a.m. Thursday.