March 5, 2005

Box Score

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Matthew Betsill's two-out, two-run single in the seventh inning broke an 11-11 tie and lifted Furman to a 13-11 Southern Conference baseball victory over Appalachian State Saturday evening at Furman Stadium.

Betsill's decisive single off Appalachian State reliever Josh Fish highlighted a five-run rally that completed a Paladin comeback from an 8-3 deficit.

Ryan Hodinka (1-0), who pitched two innings of scoreless relief, earned the victory, and David Mitchell worked a scoreless ninth to record his second save for Furman (4-6, 1-1 SoCon).

Taylor Craig (0-2) absorbed the loss for Appalachian State (3-10, 1-1 SoCon).

Furman's seventh inning outburst came after two outs. After A.J. Davidiuk walked to force in Joe Daysh for the Paladins' first run, Case Cassedy cracked a two-run double down the left field off Fish to tie the game at 11-11. Betsill then followed with a line drive single up the middle that plated two runs for a 13-11 lead.

Cassedy and Davidiuk both went 2-for-4 in the contest and accounted for five and four RBI, respectively. Andrew Greene went 3-for-6 to lead Furman's 12-hit attack.

Appalachian State pounded out 17 hits in the game, including four each by Kevin Butler and Travis Hunnicutt.

Furman took a 1-0 lead in the first on Cassedy's sacrifice fly, but Appalachian State collected four hits and took advantage of a pair of Furman errors to plate four runs in the second inning for a 4-1 lead.

Furman answered with two runs in the second to make it 4-3 before the Mountaineers chased Furman starter Ryan Hudson in the third inning, scoring four runs on five hits. Chris Baker's two-run single to right field off Paladin reliever Kyle Funk gave ASU an 8-3 advantage.

The Paladins started their comeback with a five-run fourth inning. After Joey Rodgers' leadoff double, Greene's bunt single, and Nick Wajda's walk loaded the bases and chased Mountaineer starter Brian Caudill, Davidiuk greeted ASU reliever Taylor Craig with a three-run double and Cassedy followed with a two-run home run to right to tie the game at 8-8.

Joey Robinson's RBI single in the fifth broke the tie, and the Mountaineers scored two more in the seventh on Rollins' two-run home run to left field off Funk for an 11-8 advantage.

The two teams wrap up the three-game conference series on Sunday beginning at 1:00 p.m.