FURMAN LANCES WOFFORD 14-5
REENVILLE, S.C. -- Dominic Franchini drove in four runs and A.J. Davidiuk scored three runs and collected three hits to lead Furman to a 14-5 win over Wofford in Southern Conference baseball action Sunday afternoon at Furman Stadium.
Franchini delivered a sacrifice fly in a three-run first inning, an RBI grounder in the third, and a two-run double in a six-run eighth inning to pace Furman (12-22, 5-10 SoCon) to its highest scoring output of the season.
Wofford (12-19, 5-13 SoCon) fell for the 16th time in its last 20 games.
Furman starting pitcher Sam Perry (3-1) allowed only one earned run over 6 2/3 innings to earn the win, and Calvin Hurst recorded his Paladin season record eighth save after striking out three over the final 1 2/3 innings.
Sam McLain contributed a pair of hits and three RBI, and Case Cassedy went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI for the Paladins, who banged out 15 hits in the contest.
Furman struck for three runs on four hits in the first inning off Wofford starter Austin Redwine. A Cassedy single plated Derek Norman, and McLain followed with an RBI single to drive in Davidiuk. Franchini completed the rally with a sacrifice fly to score Cassedy.
The Paladins combined three hits with a pair of Wofford errors in the third to increase its advantage to 6-0. Davidiuk led off with a double to left field and came home Cassedy’s single. Cassedy later scored on a error, and McLain tallied the inning’s final run after Redwine hit Joe Daysh with a pitch with the bases loaded. Wofford’s Chad McGill came on in relief to quell the Paladin rally by striking out Andrew Greene and retiring Norman on a fielder’s choice.
Wofford used three hits and a Furman error to make it a 6-3 game in the fourth.
The Terriers cut it to 6-4 in the fifth on a Zach Pittman single to left field that plated Stephen Johnson.
Furman’s Matthew Betstill tripled with one out in the sixth and came home on a ground out to make it 7-4, and the Paladins added on another run in the seventh on Nick Mershon’s fourth home run of the season, a solo shot to right field.
The Paladins blew the game open with six runs in the eighth inning, highlighted by Franchini’s two-run double and Norman’s two-run single.
The Paladins return to action on Wednesday when travel to Charlotte to take on the 49ers in a 6:00 p.m. game. Wofford will entertain North Carolina A&T on Wednesday beginning at 3:00 p.m.