Brandon Elmy's run-scoring double in the ninth inning snapped a tie and Furman held on for a 6-5 win over Belmont Thursday in Nashville. Prior to Thursday, the Paladins had been 0-23 in games in which it trailed or was tied after eight innings.
Furman (28-25) trailed 3-0 through five innings before breaking through with a big sixth inning. The Paladins got on the board thanks to back-to-back run-scoring bunt singles by Sims Griffith and Bret Huebner. After a sacrifice bunt, Jabari Richards homered the opposite way staking Furman to a 5-3 lead.
The Bruins (27-26) came back to tie it with single runs in the sixth and eighth innings.
After Sky Overton led off the ninth with a single on an 0-2 pitch, Elmy doubled down the right-field line sending Overton home with the go-ahead run.
Heath Hawkins came on and collected two strikeouts in a scoreless bottom of the ninth for his second save. Nolan Mullen got his first win of the year without retiring a batter. Mullen entered with a man on first and two out in the eighth. On Mullen's second pitch, Furman catcher Cameron Whitehead threw out Belmont's Chas Hadden trying to steal second to end the inning.
Jabari Richards had three hits to lead Furman's 14-hit effort.
The Paladins and Belmont play game two of the three-game series Friday at 6 p.m.
Scoreboard watching: While Furman has wrapped up Southern Conference play with a record of 14-10, the Paladins final standing and SoCon Tournament seeding will be finalized by other conference games this week.
Mercer, which has already locked up the regular season title and top seed, fell to Western Carolina 8-2 Thursday. That moved the Catamounts into second place at 14-8. UNC Greensboro fell 4-0 at Samford to drop to third place at 13-9, just percentage points ahead of fourth-place Furman. Wofford's 1-0 loss at The Citadel Thursday assured the Paladins of at least a fourth-place finish as the Terriers dropped to 11-11.
Furman can finish anywhere from second to fourth place in the SoCon. For tie-breaking purposes, the Paladins swept Western Carolina and were swept by UNCG.
In the event of a three-way tie for second place between Furman, UNCG and Western Carolina, teams would be seeded based on the record against each other. In that case, UNCG would be the No. 2 seed at 5-1, Furman would be the No. 3 seed at 3-3, and Western Carolina would be the No. 4 seed at 1-5.
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