Furman got a pair of strong pitching performances and some offensive power from unexpected sources Saturday to claim both games of a doubleheader, 11-4 and 6-3, over ETSU. The doubleheader sweep gave Furman a Southern Conference series sweep for the second weekend in a row.
The Paladins (18-20, 7-8) have won seven consecutive games for the first time since 2005.
Game 2 - Furman 6, ETSU 3
Sophomore shortstop Bret Huebner went 3-for-3 and senior right-hander Matthew Quarles turned in another outstanding start in which he got stronger as the game went along as Furman completed the sweep.
A week after earning a complete game win at Western Carolina, Quarles worked eight innings Saturday. In last week's win, Quarles retired each of the final 15 batters. On Saturday, the Ninety Six native retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced. Quarles (5-2) allowed three runs on six hits with one walk and eight strikeouts for his 20th career win.
Over his last three starts, Quarles has 20 strikeouts and one walk in 22 1/3 innings.
Both teams traded runs in each of the first two innings before ETSU took a 3-2 lead in the fourth on an RBI-double by Hunter Parker.
With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Sims Griffith's home run tied the game 3-3. It was the junior's second homer this season and fifth of his career. Cam Whitehead and Huebner followed with singles, and Jake Crawford's groundball sent Whitehead home with the go-ahead run.
In the seventh, Carter Grote led off with his third homer pushing the Paladins advantage to 5-3.
An inning later, Huebner added another insurance run with the first homer of his collegiate career.
Billy Greenfield came on in relief of Quarles to start the ninth and needed just five pitches to retire the Buccaneers (19-18, 2-10) in order for his second save.
Game 1 - Furman 11, ETSU 4
Griffith had a career-high four hits and Whitehead had three hits and four RBIs as Furman cruised past ETSU in the opening game Saturday.
ETSU took a 2-0 lead six pitches into the game. After Bucs leadoff man Chris Cook hit a 1-2 pitch for a single, Aaron Maher lined Will Gaddis' next pitch for a triple and Hagen Owenby singled on the next pitch.
Gaddis' remaining 88 pitches went much better than the first six. Furman's ace allowed just those two runs on eight hits in seven innings of work. Gaddis (4-3) had no walks and four strikeouts.
After struggling with clutch hitting much of the season, Furman came up with some big hits in key spots to give Gaddis plenty of support.
In the bottom of the third, Jabari Richards singled and Carter Grote walked with one out. One out later, the Paladins strung together four consecutive run-scoring hits. Sky Overton and Brandon Elmy had RBI-singles, Griffith hit a two-run double down the left field line, and Whitehead capped the scoring with a two-run singles up the middle to give Furman a 5-2 lead.
Whitehead replicated that at-bat his next time up. With two out in the fifth, the senior catcher lined another groundball up the middle for two more runs to push the lead to 7-2.
The Paladins added two runs apiece in the sixth and seventh innings. Ten of Furman's 11 runs scored with two out.
Next up for Furman is a pair of midweek games. The Paladins host UNC Asheville Tuesday at 6 p.m. and play at Gardner-Webb Wednesday at 7 p.m.
*Video courtesy of Dan Scott.
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