University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Furman
Furman Beats UNC Asheville, 6-5
04.21.2010 | Baseball
The win snapped a five-game losing skid for Furman (12-25) and evened the season series with UNC Asheville (11-22) at a game apiece.
With the score tied 3-3 and runners on first and second with two outs, an error on a ground ball off the bat of Brian Harrison, allowing Cameron Allmendinger to score from second base and give the Paladins a 4-3 lead. Will Muzika, who advanced from first to third on the error, then came home on a balk, and Will Miller finished off the three-run inning with an solid single up the middle that plated Matt Bona for a 6-3 lead.
The Bulldogs scored twice in the bottom of the ninth on RBI singles by Danny Baatz and Ian Graham before Jay Friedman retired Jordan Lurie on a pop fly to end the game. Furman's eighth inning rally made a winner of Paladin freshman reliever Matt Plate (1-0), who also allowed a pair of unearned runs, three hits, and a walk in 2 2/3 innings of work.
The three unearned runs gave the loss to David Ricker (1-2), who allowed a hit in one inning of relief.
UNC Asheville took a 1-0 lead in the third when Cody Buch walked and scored on Justin Schumer's triple to right center field.
The Paladins answered with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the frame and made it 3-1 an inning later on a Paul Nitto RBI single to left center field that drove home Miller.
The Bulldogs tied the game in the seventh, taking advantage of a two-out Paladin error for a Schumer two-run home run that wrapped around the left field foul pole. Schumer led UNC Asheville's 11-hit attack with a 3-for-5, 3-RBI performance, and Mike Vaughn also had three hits for the Bulldogs.
Asheville travels to High Point on Friday to begin a three-game Big South Conference series starting at 6 p.m.
