After staving off elimination early Sunday afternoon, the Furman baseball team finally ran out of steam in the Southern Conference Tournament championship finale. Playing its fourth game in 30 hours, Furman fell to UNC Greensboro 13-1 in seven innings as the Spartans punched their first ticket to the NCAA Tournament since 1997.
Furman defeated UNCG 6-4 to open Sunday's tournament play at Fluor Field. The winner-take-all rematch was shaping up to be another close contest for much of the game.
Trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the sixth, the Paladins loaded the bases with one out. After a strikeout, Jason Costa hammered a line drive to left field where UNCG standout outfielder Ben Spitznagel tracked it down to end the threat.
That seemingly took all the air out of Furman's balloon. The Spartans (35-22) sent 14 men to the plate in the seventh, and scored nine runs on four hits, four walks, a hit batter, a wild pitch and two errors. UNCG retired the Paladins (33-28) in order in the bottom of the seventh to complete the mercy rule victory.
In the bottom of the second, it appeared that Jason Costa got Furman on the scoreboard with a two-run home run. His long drive down the left-field line landed in the seats atop the Green Monster. With there being no seats in foul territory there, it was thought to be a two-run homer but was ruled foul. The play was reviewed and the foul call was confirmed.
The Spartans got a lift from unexpected sources to capture the SoCon title. Jake Lewis, who entered with a 6.33 ERA and having allowed 25 hits in 21 1/3 innings, worked a career-long 5 1/3 innings. Lewis (2-2) gave up one run on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Dan Loats, who threw 104 pitches in his start against Furman the day before, worked the final 1 2/3 innings for his second save.
UNCG's Ryne Sigmon, who entered Sunday batting .220 with two home runs, blasted a pair of homers in the game two win. SoCon Tournament Most Outstanding Player Tripp Shelton drove in four runs for the Spartans, as did Michael Goss.
Game 1 - Furman 6, UNCG 4
Costa went 3-for-3 and Sky Overton had three hits, including his sixth home run, as Furman rallied to stay alive in the opening game Sunday.
Trailing 4-3 through seven innings, Jabari Richards got Furman's rally started with a double leading off the eighth. After a pair of groundouts, Cameron Whitehead delivered a game-tying RBI-single. Costa followed with a high pop up on the infield that landed in between UNCG's catcher and first baseman. That allowed Whitehead to come home with the go-ahead run.
Overton provided a big insurance run in the ninth with a two-out homer to left-centerfield.
Furman ace Will Gaddis, who's seemingly done everything on the hill in his three years with the Paladins, added something new to the list. In likely his last appearance in a Furman uniform, Gaddis went the final 1 1/3 innings for the first save of his career.
Sunday wrapped up an amazing run by Furman over the second half of the season. Seven weeks to the day earlier, the Paladins were 1-8 in the SoCon after getting swept at UNCG. Furman, which went 3-17 during that stretch of the season, ended up tying the school's record for wins after going 22-8 over its final 30 games.
All-Tournament honors: Whitehead, Overton and starting pitcher Grant Schuermann made the SoCon All-Touranment team. Schuermann allowed one unearned run in Furman's big 6-1 win over top-seeded Mercer on Thursday.
Whitehead went 8-for-20 with two homers and eight RBIs. Overton tied a tournament record with 14 hits in 26 at-bats, and alos had eight RBIs.
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