COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON SWEEPS FURMAN 6-1, 10-4 IN SATURDAY DOUBLEHEADER

Box Score Game 1
Box Score Game 2

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The nationally 24th-ranked College of Charleston Cougars swept a doubleheader from the Furman Paladins in Southern Conference baseball action Saturday afternoon at Furman Baseball Stadium, claiming a 6-1 win in game one and a 10-4 victory in game two.

In game one, Reid Price hurdled a complete game four-hitter to pace the Cougars, and in game two the College of Charleston exploded for nine runs in the third inning en route to the victory.

The Cougars’ sweep combined with East Tennessee State’s Saturday twinbill sweep of The Citadel extended the league lead for College of Charleston (34-8, 18-2 SoCon) to three and a half games. Furman (17-24, 8-12) had its six-game winning streak halted.

Price (6-3), a junior lefthander from Fletcher, N.C., needed 100 pitches to record his first complete game of the season. He surrendered only four hits and struck out six and walked two.

Paced by Byron Barber, who went 4-for-5 and scored three runs, College of Charleston pounded out 17 hits in the opener. Matt Hallett went 2-for-2 and hit a two-run home run in the third inning, and Brett Gardner, Brian Hastings, and Chris Campbell collected two hits apiece.

Furman starter Kyle Funk (1-6) absorbed the loss after yielding 11 hits and two earned runs in 5 2/3 innings.

The Paladins, who committed four errors leading to a pair of unearned runs, avoided the shutout in the ninth inning after A.J. Davidiuk tripled to lead off and came home on Case Cassedy’s single, which extended his hitting streak to 13 games.

College of Charleston grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning. With two outs Barber reached on an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error by Cassedy. Brett Anderson followed with an RBI single to center to score Barber.

The Cougars made it 3-0 in the third after Barber led off with a single and Hallett belted a one-out Funk offering over the right center field fence.

College of Charleston combined a pair of hits with three Furman errors in the seventh to stretch their lead to 6-0. Barber led off with a single, stole second, and came home on an error. Anderson, who reached on a walk, scored on the Paladins’ second error of the inning, and Mark Lyons tallied the inning’s final run on a Jess Easterling sacrifice fly.

In game two, College of Charleston combined five hits with three Furman errors in the third inning to plate nine runs and blow open a 1-1 game. Matt Hallett singled in a pair of runs off Paladin starter Matt Klinker (3-2), and Brett Gardner capped the outburst with a two-run triple, his league leading eighth of the season.

Dominic Franchini’s two-run single highlighted a three-run Furman sixth, but the Paladins saw a no-out, bases loaded opportunity short-circuited by Cougar reliever Nick Chigges, who retired three straight Paladins.

Ryan Johnson (9-0) went 5.0 innings to earn the win, and Chigges hurled two innings of scoreless relief before giving way to Brett Harker, who stranded a pair of runners in the eighth and retired the Paladins in order in the ninth.

Hallett and Anthony Fairchild led the Cougars at the plate with two hits apiece. Furman, which outhit College of Charleston 11-9 in the nightcap, got a pair of hits from A.J. Davidiuk, Case Cassedy, Sam McLain, and Nick Mershon.

The two teams wrap up the the three-game series on Sunday begining at 1:00 p.m.