GEORGIA SOUTHERN WALKS PAST FURMAN 12-7 IN ELEVEN INNINGS
Greenville, S.C.--Furman walked in three runs in the top of the eleventh and Georgia Southern reliever Dustin Evans allowed only one run over seven plus innings of work as the Eagles defeated the Paladins 12-7 in Southern Conference baseball action Friday night at Furman Baseball Stadium.
With the game tied 7-7 in the top of the eleventh, Furman closer Calvin Hurst forced James Payne to pop out before allowing Brandon Long to double to give the Eagles’ their first base runner of the inning. Hurst was then chased from the game after he issued a walk to Greg Dowling. Ryan Hodinka took over for Hurst and walked Grant Burruss to load the bases for the Eagles. Hodinka was pulled in favor of Patrick Arnett, who proceeded to walk the next two batters, giving Georgia Southern a 9-7 lead.
The Furman bullpen continued to have trouble finding the strike zone as reliever Matt Klinker walked the fifth Eagle of the inning, allowing Georgia Southern to extend its lead to 10-7. It appeared that Klinker had gotten the Paladins out of the inning as he forced Logan Phillips to ground to third base, but Matthew Betsill over threw Case Cassedy at first, which plated two more runs for the Eagles, making it 12-7.
Evans (3-4) gave up a hit to Derek Norman in the bottom of the inning before retiring Nick Mershon and Betsill to seal the victory for Georgia Southern.
Georgia Southern (10-13, 5-2 SoCon) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning as Burruss knocked in Payne.
Furman (6-11, 0-1 SoCon) responded in the bottom half of the inning when Derek Norman blasted his first home run of the season to make it 1-1.
In the second inning, Furman took its only lead of the game when Cam Caldwell committed a throwing error, which allowed Nick Wajda and Andrew Greene to score.
The Paladins’ lead was short lived as the Eagles scored five runs off four hits in the third inning to take a 6-3 lead. Flint Wipke drove in two of the runs for Georgia Southern while Mike Economos tacked on the other three with a home run to left field.
Case Cassedy responded in the bottom of the inning with a two run blast to cut the Georgia Southern lead to 6-5.
The Eagles added another run in the fourth inning to push their lead to 7-5, but Furman answered in the bottom half of the frame to slice the lead to 7-6.
Cassedy then tied the game in the fifth inning when he hit his second home run of the game.
Both starters David Mitchell and Brian Harrison lasted 3.1 innings, but each team had an effective reliever. For Georgia Southern, Evans pitched 7.2 innings allowing five hits and one run. The Paladins relied on Ryan Hudson, who pitched 5.2 innings, giving up only three hits.
Hurst (0-2) suffered the lost for Furman allowing two runs and two hits in 1.1 innings of relief.
Wipke and Economos each had three RBI for Georgia Southern while Cassedy knocked
in three runs for the Paladins.
The two teams return to action tomorrow at Furman Baseball Stadium in a 6:00
p.m. game.