April 15, 2005

Final Stats

Greenville, S.C. - Furman scored in six of its eight innings, including a five-run fifth, to hand Western Carolina a 14-2 setback Friday night at the Furman Baseball Stadium.

Furman took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Andrew Greene had a one-out bunt single and Case Cassedy followed with a ground ball. However, a WCU mental error allowed Greene to advance to second and Cassedy reach first safely. Sam McLain singled through the left side and Greene beat the play at the plate to give the Paladins a 1-0 lead. Matthew Betsill plated Cassedy with an RBI single to center. However, the Cats turned an double play to end the inning and limit the damage.

In the second inning, WCU starter Caleb McConnell struck out the first batters he faced, but went to a 3-0 count to number nine batter Nick Wajda before leaving the game with an injury and giving way to freshman Greg Holland. Wajda would walk and Ben Terry but escaped without allowing a run. However, in the third, Furman had back-to-back, one-out doubles by McLain and Betsill to go up 3-0. Betsill would steal third and scored the Paladins' fourth run of the game thanks to a sacrifice fly to center by Joe Daysh.

Furman padded its lead in the bottom of the fourth. Wajda had a leadoff single and would eventually score on an RBI ground out by Greene.

Western finally got on the board in the top of the fifth. Nate Hall, who accounted for two of the Cats; first three hits, sent the first pitch he saw in the fifth over the left-center field fence for his fifth blast of the season.

The Paladins answered with a run in the home half of the fifth. A.J. Davidiuk had a leadoff walk, moved to second on another walk and scored on a Wajda double to left-center. However, the Catamounts used the long ball once again in the sixth as Jared Greenwood sent the first pitch of the inning over the right-field fence for his fourth homer of the season making the score 6-2.

In the bottom of the sixth, pinch hitter Sean McDonnough, who entered the game with a 1-1 count on him, delivered a one-out single to get things started. Betsill singled and Davidiuk walked to load the bases. After a strikeout, Tony Maccanii was hit by a pitch to push a run across. Then, with the bases still loaded, Wajda had an RBI infield single, scoring a runs and keeping the bases loaded. The ninth man to bat in the inning, Greene, made the score 11-2 in Furman's favor with a two-run single to left.

Furman tacked on three runs in the bottom of the eighth to provide the final margin.

Betsill led the Paladins, going 5-for-6 at the plate with four RBI, while Greene drove in four as well. Wajda was 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBI. Sam Perry improved to 3-3 on the season, pitching seven solid innings. He allowed six hits and two runs with one walk and five strikeouts.

McConnell suffered loss, leaving the game with two outs in the second. He allowed three hits and two runs with a walk and two strikeouts. It was an uncharacteristic game for WCU pitchers, who only allowed 2.91 walkes per game to rank second-best in the SoCon. They combined to walk seven batters and hit five Paladin batters.

The Catamounts and Paladins will play the second of their three-game set on Saturday with first pitch set for 6:00 pm. The game can be followed in three ways. The contest will be broadcast on WCU's 90.5 FM and on its website, www.wwcufm.com. Also, the up-to-the-batter statistics and play-by-play is available via GameTracker on www.catamountsports.com.