Feb. 15, 2005

Box Score

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Matt Maloney's three-run home run keyed a five-run third inning to lift Gardner-Webb to a 11-8 win over Furman in baseball action Tuesday afternoon at Furman Stadium.

The win improves Gardner-Webb to 3-0 on the young season while Furman drops to 2-2.

With the Bulldogs trailing 2-0, Matt Bridges reached on an error to lead off the third inning. J.D. Milford followed with a single and then Maloney belted a three-run home run over the left field fence off Furman starter Kyle Funk (0-1). Gardner-Webb tacked on a pair of runs on a RBI single by Billy McCarson and an double by Jay McConnell that plated McCarson.

Joe Daysh's two-run home run in the fourth inning made it 5-4, but Gardner-Webb answered with a two-run single by McCarson in the fifth and added three more runs in the sixth to extend the lead to 10-4.

Furman cut the Gardner-Webb advantage to 10-5 with a run in the sixth and pulled to within two runs in the eighth on A.J. Davidiuk's three-run home run to left off Bulldog reliever Zach Farry. Gardner-Webb answered, however, with a run in the ninth after Jeremy McCann triple to lead off and came home on a sacrifice fly by McCarson.

Josh Martin (1-0) yielded three runs and tallied four strikeouts over five innings of work to earn the victory.

Zach Ward worked a perfect ninth inning to record his first save of the season.

McCarson went 3-for-4 with four RBI, and J.D. Milford also added three hits to pace Gardner-Webb. Furman collected 10 hits, led by Davidiuk, Daysh, Matthew Betsill, who tallied two hits each. Davidiuk extended his school record consecutive games hitting streak to 26 games.

Furman will take a 10-day break for final exams next week before returning to action on Feb. 25 at 3:00 p.m. when it opens a three-game home series against Ohio.