Five homers not enough as Paladins drop series finale

On a windy day at Latham Stadium, five Furman home runs weren't enough as Dayton held on for a 12-11 win to salvage the final game of the series Sunday. The Flyers (1-2) hit three homers as well, none more critical than Mitch Coughlin's second of the day that pushed Dayton's lead to 12-9 in the ninth.
The Paladins (2-1), who chipped away at Dayton leads seemingly all afternoon, continued to rally in the ninth. With two out, pinch-hitter Landon Kay hit a two-run home run to cut the lead to 12-11. Freshman David Webel followed with a walk to bring Carter Grote to the plate as the potential winning run. After a ball bounced in the dirt a few feet away from Dayton catcher Matt Poland, Webel took off for second. He made it safely, but overslid the bag and was tagged out to end the game.
"He's trying to get in scoring position and obviously we love having Grote up there," Furman coach Brett Harker said. "That's a freshman getting after it. I said (to Webel), 'you need to get in scoring position. Don't hang you're head over that.'
"What a great baseball game just from seeing two teams relentlessly battle. ... We gave up six in an inning, but we had the winning run at the plate in the ninth. That's impressive. They just never thought they were going to lose until the umpires left the field."
For the third time in as many games, Furman jumped out on top early. Home runs by Jake Crawford and Cameron Whitehead, along with a two-run single by Dillon Love, helped the Paladins build a 4-1 lead through two innings.
But Dayton answered in the fourth as the Flyers sent 10 men to the plate in a six-run inning highlighted by Tate Hagan's three-run homer. Dayton added three more runs in the fifth to take an 11-5 lead.
While Furman reliever Billy Greenfield shut out Dayton for the next 3 2/3 innings, the Paladins tried to come back. Brandon Elmy and Sims Griffith hit solo homers in the fifth and sixth, respectively, and the Paladins scored a pair of runs in the eighth to cut the lead to 11-9.
Greenfield was the only Furman pitcher that didn't allow a run Sunday. He also didn't allow a hit, struck out three and walked one.
"Greenfield was the player of the game," Harker said. "He put up zeros when zeros didn't look like they could be put up."
Elmy went 3-for-5 with three runs scored for the Paladins to continue his hot start. Elmy was 8-of-13 (.615) in the series with two homers and five RBIs. In an injury-shortened 2016 season, Elmy hit .328 with one homer in 31 games.
"Elmy's always been a warm-weather guy," Harker said. "I joked about it with him on opening day. I said 'Hey Brandon, it's already hot so let's skip the whole being cold your first month,' and boy has he."
Furman next plays at Presbyterian Tuesday at 2 p.m.
*Video courtesy of Dan Scott.