May 23, 2009

Box Score

Greenville, S.C. - Western Carolina's ninth-inning rally proved to be too little, too late as the eighth-seeded Furman Paladins eliminated the Catamounts from the 2009 Southern Conference Baseball Championship, 7-6, Friday night at Fluor Field.

Western Carolina finishes the regular season at 35-22 overall and will now have to wait to see if the selection committee grants the Catamounts their third at-large bid in program history. WCU is one of three teams from the seventh-ranked Southern Conference to grace the nation's top 50 in RPI.

Furman (24-30) advances to face No. 2 seed Georgia Southern at 1:00 pm Saturday needing to win two to advance to Sunday's final. Third-seeded The Citadel squares off against top-seeded Elon in the first semifinal game at 9:00 am with the Bulldogs needing two wins to bounce the Phoenix.

Trailing 7-3, the Catamounts made a rally in the top of the ninth scoring three runs off Furman reliever Nick Karow. Stephen Notaro opened the frame with a walk before being lifted for pinch runner, Dylan de Graaf who was out of the starting lineup due to a hand laceration suffered Thursday night. WCU proceeded to load the bases before de Graaf scored on a passed ball. Matt Johns, who was struck by a pitch to reach, scored on an RBI ground out by Mitchell Hatley closing to within two, 7-5.

Western's final run came on an RBI single by Nick Liles driving in J.C. Lyons. However, with the tying run aboard, Karow forced game-ending fly ball to right field thwarting the rally and eliminating the Catamounts. Karow surrendered three earned runs on one hit with two walks and a strikeout.

Liles posted a team-high three hits on a 3-for-5 outing with one RBI and a run scored while classmate Rembert Rollison (2-for-4) doubled and homered to lead the Catamounts offensive attack. SoCon Freshman of the Year Ross Heffley also rapped out a pair of base hits finishing 2-for-3. Matt Johns finished 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored, snapping his career-best, 22-game hitting streak.

Mike Tavernier (7-6) suffered the loss after allowing six runs on eight hits in three and two-thirds innings in the start, fanning four. Classmate Corey Martin tossed two and a third innings of one-run, two-hit relief while junior Daniel Ottone tossed the final two frames hitless and scoreless with two strikeouts.

Furman opened the scoring in the second inning by plating four runs. The Paladins scored two runs and loaded the bases before the first out. Will Miller reached on a fielding error that scored Matt Hemingway. Reese Wade scored on a single by J.B. Jenkins ahead of Connor Lind who recorded a sacrifice fly to plate Campbell Lewis. The final run of the inning came on a Marcus Rose single to center field, scoring Miller.

Rose led the Paladins offense, going 2-for-4 with a double, three stolen bases and an RBI. Wade was 4-for-4 with an RBI. Seven different Paladins recorded an RBI in the game.

WCU got on the board in the top of the third inning when Rollison, who doubled to left center, scored on a passed ball from Furman pitcher J.P. Goldsberry. However, the Paladins increased their lead to 6-1 in the fourth inning when Rose scored on a Justin Holloway single down the right field line. Later in the inning, Wade singled up the middle to drive in Holloway.

Each team scored a run in the sixth inning. In the top, the Catamounts got on the board after loading the bases as Liles doubled down the right field line and Collias beat out a bunt single to third. Heffley was hit by a pitch ahead of Brent Greer who lifted a sacrifice fly to left to score Liles. In the home half of the frame, Furman's Rose tallied another run on a Brian Harrison sacrifice fly, making the score 7-2 entering the seventh.

The Catamounts cut the lead to four, 7-3, in the eighth inning on a Rollison solo shot over the left center field fence. The shot was the fourth of the season for the Charlotte, N.C., native, and set up the ninth-inning rally for WCU.

Goldsberry (4-6) picked up the win, yielding three hits and a run in four innings of work, while fanning five. Soft-throwing right-hander Jay Friedman equaled Goldsberry's four-inning effort allowing two earned runs on five hits.