March 25, 2007
Box Score
STATESBORO, GA. -- Mason Smith hurled seven strong innings and Jay Jackson belted a two-run home run to propel Furman to a 6-1 win over Georgia Southern Sunday afternoon at Clements Stadium.
In notching its fourth consecutive victory, Furman (8-14, 4-2 SoCon) completed the three-game series sweep of Georgia Southern (16-12, 0-3 SoCon) and notched its seventh win in the last eight meetings with the Eagles. The sweep marked the Paladins' first against the Eagles since taking three games from GSU in Greenville in 1995. Prior to this weekend Furman's last series sweep of a league foe had come last year when the Paladins took three games from Wofford, and the road sweep was Furman's first against a SoCon opponent since the Paladins won three straight at Davidson on the final regular season weekend of the 2005 season.
After scoring just 75 runs in its first 18 games, Furman has now registered 37 runs over the last four contests.
Smith (1-4), a junior righthander from Columbia, S.C, allowed only one run on seven hits en route to notching his first win of the 2007 campaign. He walked one and struck out six.
The loss went to John Ducey (3-3), who allowed four runs, only two of which were earned, on six hits over four innings. He struck out two and did not issue a walk.
Jackson's home run, a two-run blast in the third inning, put Furman ahead for good and capped a strong weekend for the former Christ Church Episcopal standout, who connected on a three-run home run in Friday's 8-1 win and earned the victory after tossing seven innings in a Saturday's 9-3 triumph.
Tony Maccani, Marcus Rose, and Joey Rodgers collected two hits each for the Paladins, who had 10 hits in the contest.
Georgia Southern opened the scoring in the second when Jeremiah Parker belted a leadoff home run to centerfield off Smith. Parker's roundtripper marked the Eagles' only extra base hit of the game.
Furman answered with two runs in the top of the third with a leadoff single by Paul Ortenzo and Jackson's two-run home run that gave the Paladins a 2-1 lead.
The Paladins added two more runs in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Ortenzo that plated Tony Maccani and a passed ball that plated Joe Daysh.
An inning later Furman made it 6-1 after Marcus Rose singled with outs and scored on a Bobby Hubbard double. Hubbard later came around to score on a Maccani single.
Smith and Paladin relievers Spencer Hale and Nick Hollstegge limited Georgia Southern to only three hits over the final five frames.
Furman returns to action on Tuesday when it takes on UNC-Asheville in Asheville in a 2:30 p.m. game.
