May 19, 2006

Box Score

CULLOWHEE, N.C. -- A.J. Davidiuk (Day-vah-DUKE) went 3-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs to lead Furman to a 5-4 Southern Conference series opening win over Western Carolina Friday night at Hennon Stadium.

Davidiuk, a senior shortstop from Indian Trail, N.C., scored a run in the first inning and delivered a two-run double in the second to help Furman (31-20, 15-10 SoCon) build a 5-0 lead. The Paladins then withstood a comeback by Western Carolina (30-24, 13-12 SoCon) and used effective relief pitching by Patrick Arnett and Nick Hollstegge in the eighth and ninth innings to nail down the victory -- Furman's fourth straight over the Catamounts.

The triumph guarantees Furman, a consensus preseason No. 7 pick in the SoCon, no worse than a fifth place SoCon regular season finish. The Paladins are currently in fourth place, one half game behind third place Georgia Southern (16-10 SoCon) and two games ahead of fifth place Western Carolina with Saturday's 2:00 p.m. doubleheader against the Catamounts remaining.

Matt Klinker (6-4) picked up the win for the Paladins after tossing six innings and surrendering 12 hits along with four runs and a walk while striking out four.

The loss went to Tyler Sexton (7-6), who lasted only two innings after giving up five hits and five runs, but only three earned, and two walks.

Hollstegge allowed a two-out single to Jonathan Greene in the ninth inning but retired Steve Strausbaugh on a fly to center to end the game and notch his 10th save of the season.

Furman jumped out on top with a pair of unearned runs in the first inning against Sexton. Taking advantage a hit and a pair of Catamount errors, the Paladins scored both runs on bases loaded walks by Joe Daysh and Tony Maccani.

In the second Spence Gibbs and Ben Terry led off with back-to-back singles and moved up on a sacrifice by Andrew Greene. Davidiuk then stroked a two-run double to left field to give the Paladins a 4-0 advantage. He then scored a hustle play from second base on Jay Jackson's groundout to make it 5-0.

Western Carolina broke through against Klinker in the sixth with Greene's two-run home run that cut the Furman margin to 5-2.

In the seventh, Greene delivered an RBI single off Klinker, and Barrett Shaft later scored on a wild pitch to make it a 5-4 game. Paladin reliever Patrick Arnett choked off the Catamount rally, however, with a fly out, a ground out, and inning ending strikeout of Murphy with the tying run at third base.

Arnett used a double play to retire Western Carolina in the eighth inning before giving way to Hollstegge for the ninth.

Western Carolina stranded 10 runners in the game.