FURMAN DEFEATS #21 SOUTH CAROLINA 7-5
Greenville, S.C.--Derek Norman went 2-for-3 with three RBI and Tom Mastny kept the Gamecocks at bay over the final two innings as the Furman Paladins defeated #21 South Carolina 7-5 in baseball action Wednesday evening at Greenville Municipal Stadium in front of 1, 022 fans.
The last time the Paladins defeated South Carolina was in 2001, when Furman had to rally late in the game to beat the fifth-ranked Gamecocks 5-4 in Columbia, S.C.
Furman opened the scoring as Dominic Frankey singled off South Carolina starter Forrest Beverly (0-2) in the first inning, scoring Nick Wajda to give the Paladins a 1-0 lead.
In the following frame, the Gamecocks responded when Justin Harris’ ground-out plated Landon Powell to knot the game at 1-1.
In the fifth inning, the Paladins took the lead for good as Furman scored four runs off three hits and an error to make the score 5-1. After A.J. Davidiuk flew out to centerfield, Beverly walked Clint Hill, forcing South Carolina coach Ray Tanner to pull Beverly from the game. Wajda followed with a single off reliever Cliff Donald, moving Hill to second. Norman then singled up the middle, allowing Hill to score to give Furman a 2-1 lead. Donald next issued an intentional walk to Frankey, and pinch hitter Sam McClain followed with a two-run single, pushing the Paladins’ lead to 4-1. Stephen Hildreth finished the scoring for Furman after his ground-out scored Frankey to give Furman a 5-1 advantage.
South Carolina began to chip away at Furman’s lead in the sixth inning as the Gamecocks plated two runs on a Matt Campbell double, slicing the Paladins’ lead to 5-3. However, Norman responded with his own two-run double in the bottom half of the inning, pushing Furman’s lead back to 7-3.
In the Gamecocks’ next at bat, the 2002 College World Series runners-up tried to rally again, scoring two more runs on four hits. Jon Coutlangus led-off the inning with a single to relief pitcher Ryan Hodinka. Steven Tolleson followed with a perfect bunt up the first base line to put runners on first and second. Bryan Triplett then singled through the left side to load the bases for Brian Buscher, who earlier extended his hitting streak to 14 games. Buscher delivered for South Carolina as his sacrfice fly allowed Coutlangus to score and moved Tolleson to third. Next Powell singled through the left side to score Triplett, cutting Furman’s lead to 7-5 and chasing Hodinka from the game. Relief pitcher David Mitchell followed Hodinka and issued a walk to the first batter he faced to load the bases, but struckout Michael Campbell to stymie the rally and end the inning.
Tom Mastny entered the game in relief in the eighth inning and retired the next six batters to seal the victory for the Paladins and earn his first save of the year.
Patrick Griffin (3-3) picked up the win for Furman, allowing only three hits in relief.
“This is certainly a big win for our program,” stated head coach
Ron Smith. “We’ve struggled recently, but tonight we played a solid
defense and got some timely hits. When you do that you have a chance to win.
This should give us some confidence to help get us turned around.”
This is the second win against a nationally-ranked team this year for the Paladins.
Early this season Furman beat #23 UNCG 2-1. The Paladins also have beaten North
Carolina State, currently ranked #16, but the Wolfpack was not ranked at the
time of the 14-1 drilling.
Furman returns to action this weekend when the Paladins host first place Western
Carolina in a three-game Southern Conference series. The first game of the series
is slated for 7:00 p.m. on Friday.