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Hodinka Pitches Furman to 8-2 Win, Series Sweep of Western Carolina
April 17, 2005
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Ryan Hodinka pitched eight solid innings and Matthew Betsill completed a strong weekend offensive performance with a double and a home run to lead Furman to an 8-2 Southern Conference win and three-game series sweep of Western Carolina on Sunday at Furman Stadium.
Hodinka (4-3), a junior lefthander from Springfield, Pa., who missed his last start a week ago against Elon due a blister on his throwing hand, allowed seven hits, two earned runs, and a walk while striking out four in recording the longest outing of his career.
Betsill, a junior third baseman from Griffin, Ga., boosted Furman's 10-hit attack by going 2-for-4 with two RBI and three runs scored. For the series he went 9-for-15 with seven RBI, six runs, three doubles, and two home runs.
Furman (14-19, 7-10 SoCon) outscored Western Carolina 34-4 and outhit the Catamounts 44-19 in the three games en route to its first conference series sweep of the season.
Ben Terry led the Paladins at the plate, going 3-for-5 with two runs. A.J. Davidiuk and Case Cassedy joined Betsill in adding two hits each.
Luke Miller (3-2) took the loss for Western Carolina (21-14, 9-9 SoCon).
Western Carolina took its first lead of the series in the first inning. With one out Tim Hallam was hit by a Hodinka pitch and advanced to second on a Jared Greenwood single before coming home on Steven Strausbaugh's single to left field for a 1-0 lead. Hodinka worked out a one-out bases loaded situation by getting Chris Davis on a line drive to left field and Jonathan Greene on a ground out.
Furman got on the board in the second after Betsill doubled with one out and came home on Davidiuk's single to center field.
Both teams pushed across single runs in the third inning to tie the game at 2-2. Western Carolina's Greenwood was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame, advanced to second on a ground out and to third and eventually home on a pair of Hodinka wild pitches. Furman's Ben Terry, meanwhile, singled with one out in the bottom of the inning, stole second, and later came home on Cassedy's two-out single to right field.
Furman took a 4-2 lead in the fourth against Catamount reliever Luke Miller. Betsill reached on an error to lead off and Davidiuk doubled down the right field line. Tony Maccani then followed with single to center to score Betsill and Davidiuk.
The Paladins increased their lead to 5-2 in the sixth after Terry led off with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice, and came home on Western Carolina reliever Jon Kibler's throwing error.
Furman made it 7-2 in the seventh when Betsill cracked his second home run of the series, a two-run blast over the right center field fence off the Catamounts' Bryan Tupper.
The Paladins wrapped up their scoring in the eighth with an RBI single by Terry that scored Nick Wajda.
Paladins return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Charlotte in a 6:00 p.m. game at Furman Stadium.
Western Carolina will play at Clemson on Tuesday, with the Catamounts resuming a suspended game from April 12 beginning at 5:00 p.m. prior to a regularly scheduled contest starting at 7:00 p.m.
