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Furman Sweeps Wofford In Sunday Doubleheader
April 24, 2005
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Ryan Hodinka held Wofford to two runs and seven hits in a seven-inning complete game effort to lift Furman to a 5-2 game-two victory and doubleheader sweep in Southern Conference baseball action Sunday afternoon at Russell C. King Field.
Hodinka's strong outing followed an 8-5, 10-inning Paladin win in game one and completed the second straight league series sweep for Furman (17-20, 10-10 SoCon), which improved its chances of qualifying for the eight-team SoCon Tournament scheduled for May 25-28 in Charleston.
Furman is now in sixth place in the league, a half game ahead of Western Carolina, who the Paladins swept last weekend, and a game and a half up on eighth-place Davidson.
For the weekend, Furman's starting pitching trio of Sam Perry, Ben Hunter, and Hodinka yielded only one earned run and 16 hits while striking out 26 in 22.0 innings of work. Wofford (14-29, 4-17 SoCon) never led in the three games and batted only .205 (16x78) against Paladin starting pitching.
In game one of Sunday's doubleheader, the Paladin bullpen blew an outstanding starting effort by reigning SoCon Pitcher-of-the-Week Ben Hunter, who surrendered only four hits -- all singles -- while notching a season high 14 strikeouts over eight innings before departing with a 5-0 lead.
In the ninth, singles by Wofford's Adam Wood and Ben Austin, sandwiched around a walk to John Brandt, loaded the bases for the Terriers with no outs. Brandon Waring then drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch to drive in the Terriers' first run and chase Paladin reliever David Mitchell.
Cal Hurst (1-0) entered for the Paladins and induced Scott Holloway to hit a grounder to shortstop A.J. Davidiuk, who threw to Spence Gibbs at second for one out, but Gibbs' throw to first sailed into the dugout, allowing two runs scored on the play to make it 5-3. Anthony DiNardo then grounded to short for the second out with Holloway advancing to third. Stephen Johnson followed with a two-run homer to left to tie the game at 5-5.
Andrew Greene and Case Cassedy walked to lead off the 10th inning for the Paladins. Later, with the bases loaded and one out, Davidiuk missed a suicide squeeze bunt attempt with Greene halfway down the third-base line. In the ensuing rundown, Greene eluded a tag by the catcher Holloway, who was then unable to get the ball out of his glove as Greene scored. On the next pitch, Davidiuk singled to left centerfield to drive in two runs and give the Paladins an 8-5 lead.
Hurst retired the Terriers in order in the 10th for earn the victory.
Hunter held the Terriers hitless until two outs in the fourth when Wood singled up the middle.
Wofford starter Andrew Hewitt allowed three runs on five hits in eight innings. He fanned five while walking three.
The first hit of the game was a Ben Terry leadoff single in the top of the fourth inning. Two batters later, Cassedy homered to right, his fourth of the year, to give the Paladins a 2-0 lead.
A Nick Wajda run-scoring single in the fifth plated Tony Maccani to extend the Furman advantage to 3-0. Maccani, who had two hits in the contest, reached base when he was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning.
The Paladins added two runs in the top of the ninth to make it a 5-0 game. Davidiuk doubled with one out before scoring on a Maccani single to right. Wajda's second RBI single of the game plated Maccani to give Furman a 5-0 advantage.
The Paladins scored single runs in five of the opening six innings for the 5-2 game-two victory.
Hodinka (5-3) struck out six and did not walk a batter.
Furman and Wofford both tallied runs in the first inning. The Paladins scored on a groundout by Sam McLain, while the Terriers evened the contest on a sacrifice fly by Jesse Cole.
A third-inning sacrifice fly by Matthew Betsill gave the Paladins a 2-1 lead.
Greene's two-out infield single in the fourth extended Furman's edge to 3-1.
A pair of outstanding defensive plays kept Wofford scoreless in the bottom of the fourth. Greene made a diving catch in center on Cole's sinking liner for the first out. Betsill then had a diving backhanded stop at third, before firing across the diamond for the third out of the inning, on a smash by Brandt.
Solo home runs by Davidiuk and Wajda in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively, increased the Furman advantage to 5-1. It was Davidiuk's fifth homer of the season and Wajda's second.
Trailing 5-1, the Terriers attempted another late inning rally. Singles by Scott Russell and Brandt in the seventh put runners on the corner with one out and brought the tying run to the on-deck circle. After a sacrifice fly by Brandon Waring scored Russell to cut the Wofford deficit to 5-2, Hodinka struck out Holloway to end the game.
Wofford starter Austin Redwine (7-5) took the loss, surrendering five runs in his second complete game of the season.
Furman travels to Knoxville Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m. contest versus Tennessee.
