MIAMI OF OHIO TOPS FURMAN 6-4
IN BASEBALL ACTION SUNDAY
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Paul Frietch belted a two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning to break a 4-4 tie and lift Miami of Ohio to a 6-4 win over Furman in baseball action Sunday afternoon at Furman Stadium.
Frietch, who also doubled and scored three runs in the contest, cracked his one-out, game winning shot off Furman reliever Calvin Hurst (0-1), who opened the inning by walking Jason Brown. After Brown was sacrificed to second, Frietch delivered the game winning blast over the left centerfield fence.
Frietch’s decisive clout made a winner of Redhawk reliever Matt Long (1-0), who entered the game in the eighth inning with the bases loaded and no outs and Miami holding a 4-2 lead. After striking out Furman’s Dominic Franchini and Matthew Betsill, Long surrendered a wild pitch, allowing Andrew Greene to score. His next pitch bounced away from catcher John Slone, whose throw bounced under the covering Long’s glove and allowed Derek Norman to score from third base to tie the game at 4-4.
The Redhawks touched up Paladin pitchers for 10 hits on the afternoon, including two each by Frietch, Geoff Orr, and Brian Canada. Furman starter Sam Perry allowed nine hits and four runs in 5.0 innings of work. Paladin reliever Matt Klinker pitched three innings of no-hit ball before giving way to Hurst in the ninth.
Furman, meanwhile, collected six hits off Miami of Ohio hurlers, and only two after the first inning.
After the Redhawks pushed acrosss an unearned run in the first to take a 1-0 lead, Furman answered with two in the bottom of the frame. Consecutive one-out singles by Norman, Nick Mershon, Franchini, and Betsill off Miami of Ohio starter Sam Shorts put Furman ahead 2-1, but Shorts recovered to get Sam McLain and Joe Daysh on groundouts to end the inning.
Miami of Ohio knotted the game the contest in the fourth when Orr, who singled down the left field line to open the inning and advanced to third on a double by Canada, came home on Ryan Edginton’s sacrifice fly.
The Redhawks grabbed a 4-2 lead in the fifth on an RBI single by Mike Ferris, who later came home on Tyler Tabler’s double to right centerfield.
Shorts held Furman at bay through the seventh, giving up only five hits and striking out four. Chad Reineke came on in relief in the eighth and walked two of the first three batters he faced. A throwing error by Courtney Campbell helped load the bases with no outs before Furman scratched out a pair of game tying runs with two outs on Long’s wild pitch and Slone’s throwing error.
The victory evened Miami of Ohio’s record at 3-3 while Furman falls to 2-6 on the campaign.
Furman returns to action on Wednesday when it faces South Carolina in Columbia in a 5:00 p.m. game.