Furman Walks-Off With 9-8 Triumph

Game 6: #8 Furman 9, #5 Western Carolina 8
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SoCon Tournament Central

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Alex Abrams chopped a 1-1 pitch through the middle of the infield to score Will Muzika from second and give No. 8 seed Furman a 9-8, walk-off win over No. 5 seed Western Carolina in game six of the 2012 Southern Conference Baseball Championship at Fluor Field.

With its victory, Furman (27-30) moves on to Friday's action where it will face the loser of the Appalachian State-Samford matchup at 7 p.m. Western Carolina (32-24) has been eliminated from the tournament.

Muzika opened the bottom of the ninth with a single down the left field line and was advanced to second on Hunter Burton's sacrifice bunt. Western Carolina turned to left-hander Vance Chavis to face the left-handed hitting Abrams, who then delivered the game-winning hit.

Will Miller reached base in all five plate appearances for the Paladins, going 3-for-3 with a pair of walks and two runs scored. The senior was also a perfect 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts.

Furman responded to Ross Heffley's first-inning solo home run with five scores in the bottom of the first. WCU tallied three more in the second to cut the deficit to one at 5-4 before the respective pitchers settled in.

Matt Solter, who pitched a perfect top of the ninth for Furman, earned the win to more to 2-2 on the season.

Hatcher took the loss for the Catamounts to fall to 6-2.

Julian Ridings went 3-for-4 to pace the Catamounts while Aaron Attaway led the way with three runs batted in.