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Furman Throttles Georgia Southern 4-1, Advances To SoCon Championship Game
May 27, 2005
CHARLESTON, SC - Ryan Hodinka pitched 6 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball and Matthew Betsill delivered a two-run double in a key three-run fourth inning to lift the eighth-seeded Paladins to a 4-1 win over second-seeded Georgia Southern Friday to reach the finals of the 2005 Southern Conference Baseball Championships.
Furman will play the winner of Saturday's 12:00 p.m. loser's bracket final between Georgia Southern and the winner of Friday night's College of Charleston vs. The Citadel game at 6:00 p.m. Saturday in a contest that will be televised by C-SET. A Paladin victory in the 6:00 p.m. game would clinch the tournament championship. A Furman loss, however, would guarantee a second title game on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. in the double elimination tournament.
"I thought we played with a lot of poise today, and Ryan Hodinka probably gave us his best start of the season against a solid baseball team," said Furman head coach Ron Smith, whose squad has won six straight, including three straight league tournament games. `We also played solid defense, and when we do that we usually have a chance to be successful."
The championship game appearance is the fourth for Furman, which won crowns in 1991 and finished as runner-up in 1997 and 2000.
Betsill, a junior third baseman from Griffin, Ga., sparked the offense for the Paladins at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two RBI, while teammate Joe Daysh chipped in two hits and an RBI.
Hodinka (7-5), a junior lefthander from Springfield, Pa., picked up the win for Furman after scattering seven hits and striking out six.
Furman (29-27) jumped on the board first in the in the top of the third, moving three runners across to take the early 3-0 lead. Andrew Greene led off the inning with a bunt single and moved to second on a stolen base. The next batter, A.J. Davidiuk reached on a throwing error. Betsill, who brought home Greene and Davidiuk with a double down the left field line, moved to third on a ground out by Case Cassedy and scored on a single by Joe Daysh.
The Paladins added another run in the top of the sixth to extend their lead to 4-0. Daysh led the inning off by reaching on an error. Sam McLain moved Daysh to second on an error. Daysh then stole third and came home on a sacrifice bunt by Tony Maccani.
Georgia Southern's (37-21) Brett Pelfrey put a run on the board in the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run to left center off Paladin reliever Sam Perry to cut the lead to three (4-1). But Nick Holstegge, making his seventh consecutive appearance, came on to work the final 1 1/3 innings to notch his third save of the tournament.
Josh Lairsey (8-6) took the loss for Georgia Southern, falling to 8-6.
