UNC ASHEVILLE RALLIES PAST FURMAN, 5-3
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - UNC Asheville scored five runs in the sixth inning to rally past Furman, 5-3 in college baseball action at Greenwood Field Wednesday afternoon.
The Bulldogs (8-22) trailed 3-0 entering the sixth but sent eight men to the plate to score five times. UNCA pitching led by relievers Nick Brannon and Jason Walker made the lead stand up as the Bulldogs ended a three-game losing streak and won just their second home game of the year. UNCA is 2-9 at Greenwood Field this season.
The win went to Brannon (3-6) who pitched 1.1 innings and allowed two hits and struck out one. Walker picked up his fifth save of the year by pitching 2.2 innings of scoreless relief. He allowed just two hits and struck out one. Furman threatened in the ninth with two, two-out singles but Walker got Clint Hill to ground out to end the game.
Trailing 3-0, UNCA jumped on Furman reliever and loser Jeff Stovall (0-1). Stephen Hull, Denver Edick and Brett Muhlhan opened the inning up with singles. Jeremy Manning then had an infield single to score Hull and cut the lead to 3-1.
Reliever Rob Purvis came on for Furman and hit Nick Jaksa on his first pitch to plate another run and cut the lead to 3-2. Shortstop Matt Neils then followed with a two-run single to right field to give UNC Asheville the lead for good at 4-3. Derek Anderson squeezed home the final run of the inning to give the Bulldogs a 5-3 lead.
With runners on first and second, Furman (20-16) ended the UNCA uprising in impressive fashion. Jason Ronai hit a line drive that was caught by Paladin shortstop Danny Rueckel, who doubled up Neils and then threw out Anderson at first to complete a triple play for Furman.
Furman scored twice in the second inning to take a 2-0 lead on an RBI-single from Jeff Atkisson and an RBI-groundout by Brandon Barrett. The Paladins added to the lead in the fifth with a run when Adam Etherington doubled in Barrett. But with the bases loaded and one out, UNCA came up with a defensive play to end the inning. Chris Valdes hit a fly ball to left that was caught by left-fielder Corey Mercer. Mercer then fired a strike to plate to get Etherington out on the play.
The Paladins return to action on Friday April 13 to start a three game Southern Conference series with UNC Greensboro in Greenville. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m., which marks the first night game at Furman Baseball Stadium.