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Hodinka Hurls Furman Past UNC Asheville 5-1
May. 1, 2005
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Ryan Hodinka pitched eight innings of three-hit ball to record his third straight decision and help Furman to its seventh consecutive win in beating UNC-Asheville 5-1 in baseball action Sunday afternoon at Furman Stadium.
Hodinka (6-3), a junior lefthander from Springfield, Pa., struck out six and didn't surrender a walk in leading Furman (21-20) to the three-game series sweep of UNC-Asheville (11-32). He limited the Bulldogs to one hit over the game's first 7 1/3 innings before surrendering a double and a single in the eighth. Calvin Hurst worked a scoreless ninth for the Paladins, whose seven-game winning streak, which includes a 3-2 win over 18th-ranked Tennessee on Wednesday, matches the longest in program history and was last accomplished during the 2000 campaign.
The series sweep was the third straight for Furman -- also a program first. The Paladins have now won 10 of their last 11 games and will entertain South Carolina at Greenville's Municipal Stadium on Wednesday beginning at 7:00 p.m.
Matthew Betsill, A.J. Davidiuk, and Joe Daysh collected two hits each to highlight Furman's 10-hit attack against UNC-Asheville. Davidiuk, who went 4-for-4 in Saturday's 7-3 win over the Bulldogs, recorded hits in first two plate appearances to run his consecutive hits streak to six -- one shy of the school record -- before striking out in the sixth inning.
Furman broke through in the fifth inning with a run off Bulldog starter Eric Brotzman (2-4). Davidiuk and Joe Daysh led off with singles, and Tony Maccani followed with a sacrifice bunt that Bulldog first baseman Alan DeRatt fielded, but his throw to third failed to get Davidiuk. Eric Brotzman recovered by getting Nick Wajda to hit into a double play, but Davidiuk scored to put the Paladins ahead 1-0.
Furman added a pair of runs in the sixth after Andrew Greene led off with a single and scored on Case Cassedy's double into the left center field gap. One out later Betsill singled to right field to score Cassedy to make it 3-0.
The Paladins stretched their advantage to 5-0 with two more runs in the seventh. Maccani singled to left field to lead off and advanced to second on a Wajda sacrifice. Ben Terry then doubled to plate Maccani and advanced to third on an error. Greene followed with a perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt down the third base line to score Terry.
After being limited to only one hit over the first seven innings, UNC-Asheville finally broke through against Hodinka in the eighth. With one out, Justin Wilkins doubled to left center, advanced to third on John Whited's single, and scored on a DeRatt sacrifice fly, but Hodinka ended the threat with a groundout.
In the three game series Furman starting pitchers Sam Perry, Ben Hunter, and Hodinka did not surrender a walk in 21 innings of work.
