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UNC Greensboro Edges Furman 2-1
April 29, 2006
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Patrick Currin pitched 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief and benefited from an unearned run in the seventh to claim his fifth consecutive decision in a 2-1 UNC-Greensboro win over Furman Saturday afternoon, squaring the Southern Conference series at one game apiece.
Currin (6-2), who came on in relief of UNCG starter Ryan Falcon, allowed no runs and just six hits while recording four strikeouts in 4-1/3 innings of work to help the Spartans (18-26, 7-10 SoCon) snap a five-game losing skid.
Ryan Hudson (1-1) was the hard luck loser for Furman (27-13, 13-4 SoCon) after an error in the seventh led to the Spartans' second unearned run of the contest. The senior lefthander surrendered only one hit and struck out two in 2 2/3 innings of work.
Furman doubled up UNC-Greensboro in the hit column with 10 hits to the Spartans' five, but the Paladins stranded nine runners in the contest, spoiling a solid starting pitching effort by Mason Smith, who yielded an unearned run on just four hits over 5 1/3 innings. The Paladin sophomore righthander struck out three.
UNCG grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the third inning on a sacrifice fly from second baseman Shane Thompson. Mike Mongiello reached on an error before Sam Martin was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. After Roly Gonzalez advanced both runners up one base on a sacrifice bunt, Thompson delivered with a fly into deep centerfield.
Furman tied the game a half inning later on a wild pitched charged to Ryan Falcon. Ben Terry opened the inning with a single to rightfield and A.J. Davidiuk added a single of his own to left to put a pair on. Terry then scored the equalizer when he came all the way around from second on a wild pitch that the Spartan battery could not locate.
The Spartans finally broke the tie in the seventh inning when UNCG capitalized on a Furman fielding miscue. Mongiello started the rally with a two-out single to right field and then stole second. Wes McCall then hit a routine grounder to Davidiuk at shortstop that was thrown five feet above Joe Daysh at first base, allowing Mongiello to score the go ahead run.
Ben Terry finished the contest with a 3-for-4 showing for the Paladins.
UNCG and Furman put the finishing touches on a three-game series when the two teams meet in the rubber match Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. from UNCG Baseball Stadium.
