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Tennessee Home Runs Sink Furman, 12-7
April 17, 2007
KNOXVILLE, TENN. -- Two years ago Furman claimed a 5-4 road win over Tennessee, but Yon Gomes and Shawn Griffin made sure there would be no repeat performance this year as the duo belted a pair of three-run home runs in the seventh inning to break a 5-5 tie and lead the Volunteers to a 12-7 win over Furman in baseball action Tuesday night.
With the win Tennessee improves to 21-14 while Furman falls to 10-26.
Tennessee's six-run seventh came at the expense of Matt Klinker (3-5), making only his second relief appearance of the season. After coming on to get the final out in the sixth, the Paladin senior righthander surrendered five earned runs on just two hits in 1 1/3 innings of work to absorb the loss.
Klinker retired Julio Borbon on a grounder to start the seventh and then struck out Tony Delmonico swinging, but Delmonico reached first base on the wild pitch third strike. Klinker then hit J.P. Arencibia to put runners at first and second, and Gomes followed with a three-run home run to left to give the Volunteers an 8-5 lead. Griffin later added a three-run roundtripper to cap the rally and give Tennessee an 11-5 advantage.
Furman's Jay Jackson doubled to lead off the eighth and scored on an error to make it an 11-6 game. Joe Daysh and Nick Karow followed with singles to load the bases with no outs, but Joey Rodgers' liner was speared by shortstop Danny Lima, who doubled off Daysh at second base. Connor Lind was retired on a fly to center field to end the Paladins' comeback attempt.
Furman posted a 15-9 advantage in hits, but five of the Volunteers' base knocks left the stadium. The 15 hits were the most by the Paladins since a season high 19-hit outing in a 12-5 win over Davidson on March 2.
Jackson and Daysh paced Furman's attack with three hits each. Rose, Karow, and Rodgers added two hits apiece.
The Paladins jumped out to an early 2-0 lead against Volunteeer staff ace Craig Cobb, scoring single runs in the first and second innings on a sacrifice fly by Jackson and RBI single by Rodgers.
After Tennessee tied the game with two runs in the third off Paladin starter Nick Hollstegge, Furman regained the lead in the fourth on Jackson's solo home run to left field, his fourth of the season.
The Volunteers pushed across single runs in the fourth and fifth to take a 5-4 lead before Furman tallied twice in the sixth on RBI singles by Daysh and Karow to grab a 6-5 advantage.
Tennessee plated an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth on a throwing error by Paladin reliever Spencer Hale to knot the game at 6-6.
Volunteer reliever Aaron Everett (1-0) was the beneficiary of Tennessee's six-run seventh, earning his first win of the season after working 2 1/3 innings and yielding three hits and a run.
Furman returns to action on Wednesday when it entertains UNC-Asheville in a 7:00 p.m. game at Furman Stadium.
