April 16, 2005

Final Stats

Greenville, S.C. - Furman freshman right hander Ben Hunter only allowed three hits over seven innings with eight strikeouts to lead the Paladins to a 12-0 victory over Western Carolina Saturday evening at the Furman Baseball Stadium.

Hunter, who had his share of offensive help as well, improves to 5-3 on the season. The Paladins had all nine batters get at least one hit, pounding out 19 in the contest. Case Cassedy led the way by going 4-for-5 with two runs scores, while Tony Maccani was 3-for-4. Five other Paladins each contributed five hits.

As they did last night, the Paladins (13-19 overall, 6-10 Southern Conference) scored first. With two outs, A.J. Davidiuk singled and scored on back-to-back infield singles by Andrew Betsill and Sean McDonnough.

Furman kept the momentum in the second. Cassedy had a leadoff bunt single and scored on an RBI double by Joey Rodgers down the left field line. The Paladins continued to keep pressure on the Catamount defense with bunts and aggressive base running. Nick Wajda singled to right and a fielding error allowed Rodgers to score. Andrew Greene followed with a bunt single, Furman's seventh hit and fourth infield single. However, WCU starter Brian Barnes got consecutive strikeouts to keep the score 3-0.

McDonnough provided a 4-0 lead for the Paladins in the bottom of the third, hitting his first home run of the season. Furman used the long ball once again in bottom of the fifth as Betsill hit a leadoff homer to right. Later in the inning with the bases loaded, Rodgers had an RBI single to Furman up 6-0.

With two outs in sixth, Western got its first hit of the game when Steven Strausbaugh found a hole between the Furman third baseman and shortstop. However, Hunter responded with his seventh strikeout of the game. In the seventh, McDonnough was hit by a pitch to start the home half and later scored on a double by Maccani. Furman would load the bases with one out, chasing WCU relief pitcher Jeremy Ellenburg. Wajda welcomed new pitcher Luke Miller with a two-run single down the left field line. With two outs, Davidiuk delivered a two-run triple, making the score 11-0. An error kept the inning alive and allowed Davidiuk to score and cap the scoring.

Strausbagh, Chris Davis and Nate Hall accounted for Western's three hits. Barnes suffered the loss, falling to 1-2 on the season. He allowed eight hits, four runs and a walk with four strikeouts over three innings.

Western Carolina (21-13, 9-8 SoCon) and Furman will conclude their three-game set on Sunday with first pitch set for 1:00 pm. The game can be followed locally in Cullowhee on WWCU 90.5 FM, on the campus station's website at www.wwcufm.com or on GameTracker on Western's official website, www.catamountsports.com