CHARLESTON, S.C. - Lee Curtis capped off a tournament record five-hit day with a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to push the College of Charleston past Furman, 7-6, in the opening game of the 2002 Southern Conference Baseball Tournament at Riley Park Wednesday afternoon.
“I was just trying to get on base,” said Curtis. “The first pitch was up at my eyes and I figured the fast ball was coming. I just wanted it to get out.”
College of Charleston (34-20) jumped out to an early lead with four runs in the bottom of the second inning. After Matt Lauderdale and Zach Strong each singled, Brett Anderson was hit by Furman starter Tom Mastny. With the bases loaded and no outs, Mastny came back and fanned Victor Martinez and Micky Torello. Mastny and the Paladins nearly escaped the inning without any damage, but Jack Arroyo tripled into the right-center field gap plating all three runs. Lee Curtis finished the scoring with a run scoring single.
The Paladins (23-32) answered right back with three runs in their half of the third inning. Cole Hubka and Clint Hill led off the frame with singles and both advanced on a Matt Rackers wild pitch. Richie Dean then registered a two-run single. Derek Norman followed with a double and came across to score on Dominic Frankey’s RBI single.
Furman completely erased the deficit with a single run in the fifth and grabbed the lead with a pair of runs in the sixth inning. After tying the ballgame in the fifth, Norman singled with one out in the sixth inning and came home on Frankey’s 12th blast of the season to give Furman a 6-4 lead.
The Cougars added a single run of its own in the bottom of the sixth, but that was all the damage College of Charleston could get off Paladin starter Tom Mastny. Mastny went 7.1 innings of work, giving up 14 hits, five earned runs and struckout 10.
“Tom really competed today,” said Furman head coach Ron Smith. “He threw with a lot of guts. That game is a tough one to lose, but that is baseball sometimes. We just have to come out tomorrow and get a win.”
Nearing 150 pitches, Mastny was relieved by Rob Purvis in the eighth. Purvis got Torello to fly out to end the inning. Rueckel replaced Purvis in the bottom of the eighth. Rueckel walked Matt Hallett and served up the gamewinning bomb to Curtis.
The Paladins did manage to make some noise in the top of the ninth inning. Matthew Thompson (5-1), who picked up the win in relief of starter Matt Rackers, allowed by Frankey and Chad Caudill to put runners at the corners with just one out, but Courgars closer Jeremy Schmidt replaced Thompson and got the final two outs to register his 6th save of the season.
Frankey went 3-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored for the Paladins, while Norman added three hits and Caudill and Rueckel each chipped in with two hits apiece.
Arroyo went 3-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored for College of Charleston. Strong was the only other Cougar to register two hits.
The Cougars victory marked the first time in the SoCon tournament’s last four years that the third seed won its opening game. With the victory, the Cougars will play the winner of Western Carolina/Wofford tomorrow at 4 pm. Furman returns to action at 10 am to face the loser of the Western Carolina/Wofford contest.