Wofford stuns Furman with five-run 10th

Furman's Brett Harker will likely never forget his first Southern Conference game as a head coach - no matter how hard he tries. Mack Nathanson's second home run of the night capped a five-run 10th as Wofford stunned the Paladins 9-8 Friday in Spartanburg.
Friday's SoCon opener was set to be a showdown between two of the best starting pitchers in the league and it was for most of the game.
Furman's Will Gaddis fired strikes all night, but allowed three solo home runs. The last of those was Nathanson's first homer which gave the Terriers a 3-2 lead in the seventh.
After 107 pitches thrown, Wofford ace Adam Scott didn't come out to start the eighth and the Paladins rallied. Brandon Elmy belted a two-run home run to right-center with two out in the eighth, pushing Furman ahead 4-3.
With Furman clinging to the one-run lead and with Gaddis having thrown just 95 pitches, the senior came back out to try to close it out in the ninth. Wofford's McClain Bradley drew a leadoff walk before being erased on a fielder's choice.
For a second it seemed as if the Paladins had wrapped up a win on a strikeout-caught stealing double play. After first signaling out when it appeared Wofford's Carson Wain may have slid past the bag, the umpire quickly changed his signal to safe. Harker came out and questioned the call to no avail.
Wofford third baseman Max McDougald, who robbed Jake Crawford of an RBI-single earlier in the game, then stepped to the plate and stroked a single to right scoring Wain with the tying run. Crawford came on in relief of Gaddis and needed just one pitch for a flyout to force extra innings.
Furman (10-10, 0-1) answered in the top of the 10th. Thanks to a pair of Wofford (10-13, 1-0) errors and a two-run single by Dillon Love, the Paladins put up four runs.
With an 8-4 lead and their closer on the mound, things appeared comfortable for the Paladins heading to the bottom of the 10th. But the Terriers battered Crawford with two doubles and two singles sandwiched around two outs. Nathanson then capped the improbable comeback with a two-run homer to left.
Crawford (0-1), who had allowed just one run in 7 2/3 innings entering Friday, saw his ERA rise from 1.17 to 6.23.
Gaddis finished with one walk and 10 strikeouts in his 8 2/3 innings. Scott gave up two runs - on a two-run homer the opposite way by Jabari Richards - on six hits in seven innings. He had one walk and four strikeouts.
Due to a stormy weather forecast for Sunday, the teams will wrap up the series with a doubleheader Saturday at 2 p.m.