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Hunter Hurls Furman Past Western Carolina 12-0
April 16, 2005
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Ben Hunter hurled seven strong innings and Furman pounded out 19 hits en route to a 12-0 Southern Conference shutout of Western Carolina Saturday evening at Furman Stadium.
Hunter (5-3), a freshman right hander from West Chester, Ohio, who failed to record an out in his last start a week ago against Elon, yielded only three hits and one walk while recording seven strikeouts in his second longest outing of the season. A victim of food poisoning three weeks ago which forced him to miss a start against UNC Greensboro on April 2 due to the illness, he held Western Carolina hitless for 5 2/3 innings and retired 13 straight Catamounts during one stretch before Steven Strausbaugh singled to left field with two outs in the sixth.
Hunter surrendered two of his three hits in the seventh but finished strong by getting Brandon Zollman on a fly out and Barrett Shaft on a ground out to end the inning.
The shutout was the first for Furman (13-19,6-10 SoCon) since the 2003 season and first ever blanking of Western Carolina (21-13, 9-8 SoCon) in a 104-game series that dates back to 1968.
Furman, which tallied 15 hits in a 14-2 win over the Catamounts in Friday's series opener, was paced at the plate by Case Cassedy's 4-for-5 performance. Tony MaCanni collected three hits, and Nick Wajda, A.J. Davidiuk, Matthew Betsill, Sean McDonnough, and Joey Rodgers contributed two hits each in the Paladin onslaught. Furman's 19 hits marked the third highest output of the season.
Catamount starter Brian Barnes (1-2) was charged with the loss after surrendering eight hits and four runs in three innings of work.
Furman took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on McDonnough's two-out single to deep short that plated A.J. Davidiuk.
The Paladins tacked on two more in the second, using four hits and a Catamount error to extend their advantage to 3-0. Cassedy singled to lead off and with one out came home on Rodgers' double down the left field line. Wajda followed with a single to right field, and Rodgers, who advanced to third on the base hit, came home on a fielding error in the Catamount outfield.
Furman made it 4-0 in the third when McDonnough deposited Barnes' offering over the left field fence.
In the fifth inning Betsill drilled a one-out, 3-2 pitch from Western Carolina's Jeremy Ellenburg over the right center field fence for a 5-0 lead. With one out the Paladins put together four consecutive hits, including a Rodgers single to left field, to drive home Sam McLain for a 6-0 advantage.
Furman put the game away with a six-run seventh inning, highlighted by Davidiuk's two-run triple to center field.
The two teams wrap up the conference series on Sunday with a 1:00 p.m. game.
