Furman To Entertain South Carolina Tuesday Night At West End Field

May 15, 2006

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Furman Paladins baseball team returns to action Tuesday night when it entertains the South Carolina Gamecocks at Greenville's West End Field. First pitch for the contest, which will be broadcast by Furman flagship station WGOG-FM 96.3, is set for 6:00 p.m.

The game will mark the first Paladins' first appearance at West End Field, which opened on April 6 and serves as home of The Greenville Drive, the Single A minor league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. Labeled a mini Fenway Park and located in downtown Greenville, the facility, which seats 5,000, sports a 30-foot high `Green Monster' left field fence and famous Pesky Pole down the right field line.

All seats for the game are general admission and $6.50 each. Tickets are only available through the Greenville Drive ticket office (864) 240-4528 or online at www.greenvilledrive.com.

Furman (30-19) and South Carolina (34-18) have been baseball rivals since 1896, having met 152 times over the years. The Gamecocks, who claimed an 11-3 win over Furman in Columbia on March 22, own a 97-53-2 series advantage. Furman, however, knocked off USC twice last year, including a 6-2 decision at Greenville's Municipal Stadium.

Freshman righthander Jay Jackson (2-0, 4.93 ERA) of Greenville is expected to get the start for the Paladins against USC.

Furman, currently tied for third place in the Southern Conference with 14-10 league mark, wraps up the regular season with a three-game league series at Western Carolina beginning on Friday at 7:00 p.m. and concluding with a Saturday doubleheader beginning at 2:00 p.m.

Southern Conference Tournament action gets underway on May 24 at Charleston's Joseph P. Riley Park. Furman defeated No. 1 seed College of Charleston, No. 4 seed Elon, and No. 2 seed Georgia Southern twice to claim last year's tournament championship and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.