CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Georgia Southerns John Durik drove in three
runs to
lead the Eagles to a 5-3 win over Furman in Game 7 of the Wendys/Pepsi
Cola
Southern Conference Tournament Thursday evening at Riley Park.
Durik, a senior right fielder, homered in the first
inning to tie
the game at one. With Georgia Southern trailing 2-1 in the fifth,
he
singled home another run to tie the game. Duriks third RBI came
in the
seventh inning when his sacrifice fly scored Jason Hinely to break
a 3-3 tie.
Duriks homer in the first was the first round-tripper
hit in the
tournament. It was his ninth of the season.
Georgia Southern (36-21) now advances to Fridays
4:00 p.m. game
against the winner of the College of Charleston - Citadel contest scheduled
for later Thursday night. Furman (24-30-1) falls into the losers
bracket
and will play UNC Greensboro at 10:00 a.m. Friday in an elimination
game.
Furman jumped on top 1-0 in the top of the first
when James Bright
led off the game with a walk and scored on an infield ground out by
Ryan
Presnell. Georgia Southern tied the game in the bottom of the first
when
Durik homered to left.
Furman took a 2-1 lead in the fifth when Bright singled
and later
scored on a single by Presnell. GSU reclaimed the lead at 3-2
with a pair
of runs in the bottom of the fifth. Jason Hinely reached on an
error and
moved to second on a throwing error by Furman pitcher Tom Mastny.
J.R.
Revere followed with a run-scoring single and came around to score
himself following a single by Durik and a fielders choice from Matt
Easterday.
The Paladins tied the game in the top of the sixth
when Tommy John
beat out an infield single and moved to second on a throwing error.
After
Danny Rueckel sacrificed him to third, John scored on a sac fly by
Justin Maderer.
Georgia Southern took the lead for good at 5-3 with
a pair of runs
in the seventh. Hinely led off the frame with a walk and moved
to third
on Revere's double. Duriks sacrifice fly earned him his third
RBI of the
night as Hinely scored. Easterday drove in his second run of
the night
when he scored Revere from second with an RBI single.
GSUs Daniel Wheeler improved to 7-3 on the season
as he scattered
five hits over eight innings and struck out eight before yielding to
closer
Jason Cadenhead. Cadenhead earned his sixth save of the year
with an
inning of hitless relief and a pair of strikeouts.
Furman starter Tom Mastny fell to 4-5 as he took
the loss. He
yielded all five runs but just three were earned.