Richards, Hawkins power Furman past USC Upstate

Jabari Richards returned to his 2016 form and Heath Hawkins looked as dominant as he did down the stretch in 2016 Tuesday to lead Furman to a 7-4 win at USC Upstate. The Paladins (6-2) improve to 2-0 in mid-week games this season, which have also been Furman's lone road games.
"That's a great team win," Furman coach Brett Harker said. "We've struggled playing here."
Richards, the 2016 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, got off to an 0-for-12 start this season but in his first at-bat Tuesday he broke out in a big way. Richards belted a three-run home run over the right-centerfield wall - near the 383-feet marker - of the cavernous Harley Park.
With runners on first and second, Richards showed bunt and fouled off the first pitch but then smoked a 1-1 pitch for the homer.
"Man, was that good to see Jabari Richards come back and run one out of the park and look like himself today," Harker said. "On 1-1, I felt they were going to throw him a good pitch so we took the bunt off and that one worked out."
Later in the second, Carter Grote tripled and Landon Kay singled him home to give Furman a 4-0 lead.
The Spartans (3-5) began to chip away at the lead with single runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings to cut the lead to 4-3. USC Upstate threatened for more in the fifth as it loaded the bases with two out, but Hawkins came on and got a flyout to end the inning.
Furman answered with three runs in the top of the sixth, highlighted by a Chadwick Word RBI-single that Harker said may have been the biggest at-bat in the game.
Hawkins (1-0), who's been hampered by a lower abdominal strain, cruised over the next three innings. In 3 1/3 innings, he gave up two hits, one unearned run, no walks and struck out two.
"That was Heath Hawkins of last year and it was really good to see him look that way," Harker said. "They've got some really big kids that can drive the ball and he held them at bay."
Things got a bit dicey for Furman in the bottom of the ninth as the Spartans loaded the bases with two out against standout closer Jake Crawford. However, Crawford got a groundball to shortstop to end the game and earn his second save.
"He was so upset he didn't catch those two groundballs up the middle (that went for singles)," Harker said. "I think it's good that he got tested. ... He got through it."
*EDIT: Furman's scheduled home game Wednesday against UNC-Asheville was postponed by a forecast of thunderstorms. It will be made up on April 25.

*Video courtesy of Dan Scott.