April 22, 2001

Box Score

Greenville, S.C. - Western Carolina took advantage of a pair of walks and two hit batsmen to score five runs in the third inning en route to a 7-5 win over Furman in Southern Conference baseball action Sunday at Furman Stadium.

With the win, Western Carolina (21-21, 13-10 SoCon) avoided a three-game series sweep and moved back into a fourth place tie with Furman (23-19, 13-10 SoCon) in the league standings. The loss halted the Paladins' four-game winning streak and five-game series winning streak against the Catamounts.

Western Carolina scored all five runs in the decisive third inning against Paladin starter and staff ace Toby David (7-3). David, who hit Catamount designated hitter Brian Sigmon to open the inning, retired the next two batters before surrendering a single to Todd Roper and a walk to Ryan Schade to load the bases. Todd Buchanan then walked to force in a run, and David plunked the Catamounts' next batter, Donovan Minero, to make it 2-1. Western Carolina's Matt Price followed with a single to right field to drive in a pair of runs to give the Catamounts a 4-1 lead, and Rod Goldston completed the rally with a bunt single down the third base line to plate Minero for a 5-1 advantage.

The Catamounts stretched the lead to 7-2 in the fifth when Sigmon belted a one-out, two-run home run off David over the left field fence.

Furman sliced it to 7-4 with a pair of runs in the sixth on an RBI triple by Chris Valdes, who later scored on an groundout by Ryan Presnell.

The Paladins made it 7-5 with a Valdes home solo home run in the eighth and came close to tying the game with two outs in the ninth and a runner on third, but Catamount left fielder Doug Myers robbed Adam Etherington of a potential two-run home run with a leaping catch over the fence to end the game.

Furman outhit Western Carolina 8-5, but the Catamounts took advantage of seven Paladin walks to make a winner of Jared Burton (5-2), who yielded six hits, four runs, and two walks while striking out two in 5.1 innings of work. Ryan Foster worked the ninth inning to record his fourth save.

Roper, Schade, Price, Goldston and Sigmon accounted for the five Catamount hits, while Price and Sigmon each drove in two runs.

Chris Valdes paced Furman at the plate, going 2-for-3 with three RBI, including a home run, a triple, a sacrifice fly, and two runs scored. Rusty Putnam pitched 4.0 innings of no-hit ball in relief of David in the losing effort.

Western Carolina travels to Clemson on Tuesday for a 7:15 p.m. game against the nationally-ranked Tigers.