The perfect script that Furman's baseball team enjoyed over the first few days of the Southern Conference Tournament took an unwanted plot twist Saturday afternoon. However, late Saturday night the Paladins clinched a spot in the final chapter. While a daunting task awaits Sunday, it could set up quite a storybook finish.
Fourth-seeded Furman held on for an 8-6 win over No. 7 seed ETSU in an elimination game Saturday night at Fluor Field. The Paladins (32-27) advance to Sunday's championship against No. 3 seed UNC Greensboro at noon. Furman, which lost to UNCG 12-8 Saturday afternoon, will have to beat the Spartans twice Sunday to claim its first SoCon Tournament title since 2005.
"After that game (earlier Saturday) didn't go our way, we just said 'boys, let's figure out a way to play for a championship,' " Furman coach Brett Harker said. "We just kept grinding and grinding ... and we're playing for a championship on Sunday.
"It's not going to be easy, but I'll take our 27 guys."
Things were tense Saturday night as the teams battled through six innings of a 3-3 tie. The Paladins then rattled a bit with back-to-back errors to begin the seventh. While Heath Hawkins induced a ground ball double play from ETSU's .349-hitting leadoff man Chris Cook, the Buccaneers still made Furman pay for its earlier miscues. Aaron Maher hit an RBI-double and Hagen Owenby followed with an RBI-single as ETSU took a 5-3 lead.
The Paladins answered in the bottom of the seventh. Logan Taplett, who started at third with Jake Crawford on the mound, drew a leadoff walk and Sky Overton followed with a double. Jabari Richards then lined a two-run single up the middle to tie the game. Richards later scored on a wild pitch and Cameron Whitehead capped the four-run inning with an RBI-double to give Furman a 7-5 lead.
After ETSU (30-29) sliced the lead to one in the top of the eighth, Furman again responded in the bottom half with another run-scoring single up the middle by Richards.
In the ninth, Cook led off with a single before Billy Greenfield retired ETSU's No. 2, 3 and 4 hitters to secure the win. Greenfield, who came on in the eighth with a man on and nobody out, worked two scoreless innings for his third save.
Hawkins (3-3) allowed three runs, one earned, on three hits in two innings for the win. Crawford made his best pitching start of the season, allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits in five innings. The trio combined for eight strikeouts and one walk.
"Jake Crawford stepped up and gave us big innings and our relievers pitched well," Harker said. "I can't say enough about Billy Greenfield. That's some of the biggest outs in 10 or 15 years for Furman baseball."
Overton, Richards and Bret Huebner had two hits apiece to account for 75 percent of Furman's hits.
Moving forward to Sunday, the question becomes who takes the hill for Furman. Through the Paladins first four tournament games, only Greenfield, Hawkins, Nolan Mullen and starting ace Will Gaddis have pitched in relief. While there are fresh arms available, many are inexperienced. At least one or two possibly unexpected pitchers could have to step up against UNCG's formidable lineup.
"I've got to sit down, regroup ... and figure out what we have available," Harker said. "But I'll tell you, if we've got 15 guys that can pitch on our roster, all 15 guys want the ball tomorrow."
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