Samford, Georgia Southern Advance to Baseball Title Game

#4 Georgia Southern 11, #8 Furman 8

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Georgia Southern batted around in a six-run first inning and held off a late Furman rally to claim an 11-8 win over the eighth-seeded Paladins at the Southern Conference Baseball Championship at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park on Saturday. With the win, the No. 4 seed Eagles have forced an elimination game against the Paladins at 5 p.m. Saturday, with a spot in Sunday’s title game on the line.

Furman (26-32) trailed 10-2 heading to the seventh but scored six runs over the final three innings to make things interesting. GSU (37-21) held on, however, forcing the “if necessary” game in the top half of the championship bracket.

Georgia Southern battered Furman starter Jacques de Gruy (4-4) early, jumping on him to the tune of six hits and six runs in the opening frame. Aaron Mizell and Garrett Chapman had RBI doubles in the inning, while Stryker Brown, Garren Palmer and Dalton Busby had run-scoring singles and Chase Griffin had an RBI ground out.

The Eagles made it 8-0 in the second on Palmer’s two-run home run, but Furman (26-32) got the runs back in the top of the third when Cameron Whitehead led off with a double and Jake Jones hit a two-out, two-run home run.

GSU stretched its lead to 9-2 in the third on Ben Morgan’s RBI single and reached double digits in runs on Chapman’s RBI fielder’s choice in the sixth inning.

Furman began its comeback attempt in the top of the seventh, scoring on Hunter Burton’s RBI single up the middle, which scored Carter Grote.

The Eagles responded in the bottom half with Busby’s RBI double, but Furman scored four times in the eighth to get back into the game. The Paladins batted around in the inning, banging out five hits, all of them singles. Greg Harrison was hit by a pitch to open the frame and later came in on Alex Abrams’ single up the middle. Heath Burton and Hunter Burton also had RBI singles, and a fourth run came in on a passed ball with the bases loaded.

Furman added one more run in the ninth on Jordan Simpson’s two-out RBI single, but GSU reliever Matt McCall got a fly out to left to nail down his ninth save of the season.

Eagle starter Will Jackson improved to 3-2 on the year, allowing three runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out two and did not walk a batter.

de Gruy – who worked a career-best 9 2/3 scoreless innings in a start against the Eagles in their regular-season series – was tagged for nine runs on nine hits and three walks in three innings of work Saturday. Anthony Buonopane settled things down with two innings of scoreless, hitless relief to give Furman a chance to get back into the contest.

Furman outhit the Eagles, 14-10, with Abrams going 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Hunter Burton and Whitehead had two hits each.

For the Eagles, Palmer was 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Morgan, Mizell and Busby also had two hits each.

 

#3 Samford 12, #6 Wofford 3

CHARLESTON, S.C. – No. 3 seed Samford scored eight runs in the top of the seventh inning to blow open what had been a one-run game, eliminating No. 6 seed Wofford, 12-3, on Saturday at the Southern Conference Baseball Championship at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park. With the win, the Bulldogs advance to Sunday’s championship game against either Furman or Georgia Southern. The game, set for 2 p.m., will appear on ESPN3.

Samford (35-24) will be making its third title game appearance in the last four seasons. The Bulldogs fell to Georgia Southern in Charleston in 2011 before topping the Eagles in the championship bout in Greenville, S.C., the following year.

Samford banged out four hits and took advantage of three walks, two errors, two balks, two wild pitches and a hit batter in the seventh to turn a 3-2 lead into a nine-run bulge. Drew McWhorter and Caleb Bryson had the only two RBIs in the inning, both via singles, while two runs scored on balks, two on errors and another on a wild pitch. Wofford (32-28) used four pitchers in the inning as Samford sent 13 batters to the plate.

The lead was more than enough for the Bulldog pitching staff, which limited the Terriers to just three runs on 11 hits on the day.

Samford’s eight-run outburst came just after Wofford had scored a run in the sixth to draw within a run. Josh Hyman and Eric Brenk led off with singles to put runners on the corners, and Conor Clancey lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to bring in Hyman to make it a 3-2 game.

Wofford drew first blood in the contest, getting Seth Neely’s home run out to right field to lead off the third inning. Samford pulled even in the top of the next inning on Brandon Powell’s RBI double to the gap in left-center.

The Bulldogs took their first lead of the day in the fifth, plating a pair of runs. T.J. Dixon led off the frame with a single and went to second on a sacrifice bunt and to third on a fly out. SoCon Freshman of the Year Heath Quinn drove him in with a double to right-center, and Bryson followed with a single up the middle to knock home Quinn.

After Samford’s big seventh inning, Wofford got a run back in the bottom of the frame on James Plaisted’s RBI single. The Bulldogs capped the scoring with McWhorter’s RBI double in the top of the ninth.

Six Samford players turned in multi-hit games, with McWhorter and Bryson driving in two runs each. Quinn had a pair of doubles and a walk, while designated hitter Jared Watson reached base four times, collecting two singles and a walk and being hit by a pitch. He scored three times.

Wofford was paced by Neely’s 3-for-5 showing.

Cole Limbaugh earned the start for Samford and allowed a run on three hits and a walk in four innings of work. Mark Donham (2-0) worked the next three innings, allowing two runs on seven hits to pick up the win, while Chase Traffica pitched the final two frames, allowing just one hit.

Wofford’s Elliot Lance (1-1) allowed three runs on eight hits and a walk in his first career start, going five innings and striking out two.

Wofford, which used 22 of the 27 players on its tournament roster, finished its season with a program-record 32 wins and posted its first winning season since 1992.

 

 

#4 Georgia Southern 10, #8 Furman 7 (12 innings)

CHARLESTON, S.C. – RBI singles from Garren Palmer, Hunter Thomas and Chase Griffin in the top of the 12th inning lifted No. 4 seed Georgia Southern to a 10-7 win over No. 8 seed Furman as the Eagles beat the Paladins for the second time Saturday to reach the title game of the Southern Conference Baseball Championship at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park. The Eagles will face No. 3 seed Samford at 2 p.m. Sunday for the SoCon crown. The championship game will air on ESPN3.

Coming through the losers’ bracket after a first-round loss to Appalachian State on Wednesday, GSU  (38-21) had to beat Furman (26-33) twice Saturday to advance, and did just that. The Eagles claimed an 11-8 win over the Paladins to open semifinal play, forcing a second game between the two squads.

Furman didn’t make it easy on the Eagles in their second contest of the day, rallying from a six-run deficit late in regulation to force extras, but GSU survived several Paladin scoring chances in extras and surged back ahead with three runs in the 12th. Kody Adams got things going with a leadoff double to left-center and went to third on a sacrifice bunt. Anthony Mizell – who had a home run and a triple to that point – was intentionally walked to put runners on the corners, and after Furman pitcher Alex Abrams went to a 3-0 count on Stryker Brown, he, too, earned the intentional pass to load the bases.

Palmer then jumped on the first pitch he saw, sending a flare into left-center to bring in the go-ahead run. Thomas followed suit, singling to left-center on the first pitch he saw, as well, making it a 9-7 game. After Abrams got a three-pitch strikeout, Griffin singled through the right side to plate Brown. Furman right fielder Jake Jones threw out Palmer at the plate on the play to send the game to the bottom half of the 12th.

Down to their last three outs and trailing by three runs for the second time on the night, Furman threatened to rally again.

Kyle Simmons led off with a single up the middle and Hunter Burton fouled off eight pitches in his at-bat before being plunked to put runners on first and second with no one out. A fielder’s choice erased Burton at second and put runners on the corners, but GSU reliever Tripp Sheppard got a pair of fly outs to end the game.

None of that would have been necessary without the Paladins’ late-game surge. After Chris Ohmstede, Abrams and Jones hit RBI singles to tie the contest at 7 with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, GSU reliever Eric Alonzo got Cameron Whitehead to roll into a 4-6-3 double play to keep the Eagles alive.

Furman stranded a pair of runners in the 10th when Ohmstede lined out to second to end the frame and left one aboard in the 11th when second baseman Ben Morgan made an outstanding diving stop to his right and flipped the ball to second for a force out to end the inning.

The Eagles jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three innings in the elimination semifinal, getting RBI singles from Garrett Chapman and Dalton Busby in a three-run second and a solo home run from Mizell in the third.

The Paladins got a run back in the bottom of the fourth when Abrams followed a Greg Harrison walk and an Ohmstede double with an RBI ground out.

Georgia Southern stretched its lead to 7-1 with runs in the sixth and seventh innings, getting another RBI single from Busby in the sixth and an RBI triple from Mizell and a run-scoring double from Brown in the seventh.

Furman refused to go away, however, plating three runs in the bottom of the seventh to make a game of it. A trio of singles loaded the bases with one out, and Burton drew a seven-pitch walk to drive in Jordan Simpson. Freshman Carter Grote followed with a two-run double down the left-field line to make it 7-4, and Harrison was hit by pitch to reload the bases. Reliever Matt McCall wriggled off the hook, getting a double play off the bat of Ohmstede to end the inning.

Busby had three of the Eagles’ 17 hits on the day, while Abrams and Jones had three each for the Paladins.

GSU’s 12th-inning outburst made a winner of Sheppard, who pitched three innings of scoreless relief, allowing three hits.

Jason Richman earned the start for the Eagles, going 4 1/3 innings and allowing one run on two hits. The appearance was his fifth of the tournament, matching the SoCon tournament record, and his NCAA Division-I leading 44th of the season.

Abrams (8-3) took the loss, allowing three runs on five hits in five innings of work. He walked two and struck out six. Abrams faced the minimum through his first four innings before running into trouble in the 12th.

The Eagles and Samford (35-24) will square off for the SoCon title for the third time in four seasons. GSU won the battle in Charleston in 2011, while Samford claimed the rematch in Greenville, S.C., in 2012. Georgia Southern will be making its 11th appearance in the title game and is seeking its sixth title. Samford, which joined the league in 2008, will be making its third appearance and is trying for its second crown.

 

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