University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Furman
Bulldogs Edge Furman, 9-8 in 10
03.10.2015 | Baseball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Erik Connolly's infield single provided the winning run for UNC Asheville as the Bulldogs edged Furman, 9-8 in 10 innings on Tuesday afternoon at Greenwood Field.
Kyle Towles and Zayatz led Asheville (7-8) at the plate with three hits each. Nick Schavone (2-0) earned the win with two scoreless innings of pitching.
The Paladins (7-7) had 19 hits in the game but left 15 men on base. Third baseman Chris Ohmstede led FU at the plate with four hits. Carter Grote added three hits.
In the bottom of the 10th, Zayatz doubled down the right-field with one out. Pete Guy was intentionally walked to put runners on first and second. After Kyle Carruthers struck out for the second out, Connolly came up.
With runners on first and second, Connolly sent a ground ball to shortstop Matt Towarnicky. He made a great stop in the hole at short but his throw to first was low, allowing Connolly to reach first. When the ball got away from first baseman Blake Chisholm, Zayatz raced home from third and just beat the throw to give the Bulldogs the dramatic win.
Asheville led 5-0 early before Furman rallied to take the lead in the seventh with six runs for an 8-5 lead.
The Bulldogs tied the game with three runs in the bottom of the eighth. Justin Woods led off with a double to right, followed by a walk to Derek Smith. Tommy Houmard was then hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out.
Lucas Owens just missed a game-tying double as center-fielder Sky Overton made a great catch for the first out of the inning, scoring a run to close the lead to 8-6.
After a walk to load the bases to Hunter Bryant, Towles' run-scoring single narrowed the lead to 8-7. Zayatz sacrifice fly to left-field, scored Houmard to knot the game at 8-8.
The Bulldogs scored five times in the second inning to grab a 5-0 lead. Towles led off with a single before moving to third on a double by Zayatz. Guy's sacrifice fly gave Asheville its first run of the game at 1-0.
A walk to Carruthers put runners on first and third. Woods scored Zayatz on a fielders' choice, pushing the lead to 2-0. Smith walked to load the bases.
Houmard delivered a two-run single to scored two runs to increase Asheville's lead to 4-0. A throwing error on the play allowed another run to score another run and a 5-0 Bulldog lead.
Furman rallied for a run in the fourth when Andrew MacLatchie doubled to left-field to score the Paladins first run of the game.
In the sixth, Towarnicky's RBI-single shaved the Bulldogs to 5-2.
The teams play again on Wednesday, this time at Furman with first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m.
