April 28, 2007

Box Score

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Jonanthan Greene went 2-for-3, scored twice, and drove in four runs to power Western Carolina to a 12-4 win over Furman in Southern Conference baseball action Saturday evening at Furman Stadium.

Greene delivered an RBI grounder in the third inning, a run-scoring single in the sixth, and two-run home run in the eighth inning for Western Carolina (29-14, 12-5 SoCon), which evened the three game series at a game apiece heading into Sunday's 1:00 finale. John Ingram added four hits, and Kenny Smith and Steven Strausbaugh both homered for the Catamounts, who pounded out 15 hits in the contest.

Furman (12-30, 8-12 SoCon) was paced at the plate by Paul Ortenzo, who went 3-for-4, but the Paladins, who collected 10 hits, managed only a pair of singles after the fifth inning.

Western Carolina's heavy lumber provided plenty of support for Catamount starter and winning pitcher Drew Saberhagen (5-1), who allowed nine hits, four runs, including three earned, and walk over six innings. He struck out three.

The losing pitcher was Jay Jackson (1-3), who surrendered seven runs, though only four were earned, on six hits in five innings. He walked two, hit three batters, and struck out four.

Western Carolina jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning. With two outs Strausbaugh was hit by a Jackson pitch, and Kenny Smith followed with a two-run home run over the left field fence.

Furman knotted the game with a pair of runs in the second after Jackson led off with a single and Tony Maccani lined a Saberhagen offering out of the park.

After both teams tacked on single runs to make it 3-3, Western Carolina erupted for four runs in the fifth to go up 7-3. Barrett Shaft reached on an error to lead off and Strausbaugh followed with a two-run home run to right center field. The Catamounts then used a pair of walks and a single to load the bases, and Blake Murphy finished off the rally with a two-out, two-run single up the middle.

Furman got a run in the bottom of the fifth on a RBI bunt single by Marcus Rose and threatened for more after getting runners on the corners with one out. Saberhagen, however, escaped further damage by retiring Jackson and Maccani on a pair of infield flies.

Western Carolina stretched its lead to 9-3 with single runs in the sixth and seventh, and finished off its attack with a three-run eighth that featured four hits, including Greene's two-run home run to right center field off Paladin reliever Nicholas Karow.

Saturday's triumph snapped a five-game losing skid for Western Carolina in Greenville.