April 8, 2006

Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Ryan Owens held the Furman offense to only five hits in eight innings to help lift The Citadel past the Paladins 4-1 on Saturday afternoon in Riley Park.

The Bulldog senior lefthander registered seven strikeouts on the day as the Bulldogs handed Furman its first Southern Conference loss of the season. The defeat also snapped a 14-game Paladin winning streak against league foes dating back to last year.

The Citadel (17-14, 4-4 SoCon) jumped on top in the second as Mark Egleton led off the frame with an infield single and then swiped second. Zach Brown drove in Egleton with a single to center to give the Bulldogs a one-run advantage.

Furman (19-10, 7-1 SoCon) scored its lone run in the third as Spence Gibbs tallied a lead-off single to right. With one out Ben Terry worked the count for a walk, and Andrew Greene followed with an RBI-single to plate Gibbs and even the score at 1-1. The base hit extended Green's hitting streak to 23 games.

The Dogs reclaimed the lead in the fifth. Matt Matulia walked with one out in the inning and advanded to third on Furman throwing error. Tripp Cappelmann then roped a single to center to score Matulia, and Chance Smith later added a sacrifice fly to bring in Mashak and put The Citadel up 3-1.

Back-to-back doubles in the seventh gave the Bulldogs extra insurance as Brown led off with a double to right and then scored on a two-bagger by Matulia to make it 4-1. Brown paced the Dogs offensively, going 2-for-4 with an RBI and run.

Link Saunders, who took the loss in Friday's series opener, came on in the final frame to preserve the 4-1 victory and record his 10th save of the year.

Owens (2-4) was credited with the win as he matched his career-high eight frames, allowing only one run on five hits and fanning seven. Furman starter Mason Smith (3-2) suffered the loss as he went 4 2/3 innings, giving up three runs, one earned, on four hits while striking out three.

The series finale is set for Sunday at 1:00 p.m.