Grant Schuermann and Will Gaddis combined to toss 15 shutout innings Saturday to help keep Furman perfect in doubleheaders this season. The Paladins defeated VMI 4-1 and 8-2 to improve to 6-0 in twin bills.
Furman improved to 27-23 overall and moved to third place in the Southern Conference standings at 14-9. It's the fifth consecutive Southern Conference series win for Furman, who will go for its fourth sweep in those five series Sunday beginning at 1 p.m.
Game 1 - Furman 4, VMI 1
Schuermann posted his third consecutive outstanding start to lead Furman to a win in the opener Saturday. Schuermann (6-4) allowed three hits and no walks in seven scoreless innings and tallied a season-high eight strikeouts.
Over his last three starts, Schuermann has allowed three earned runs over 23 innings. Schuermann has 31 strikeouts and no walks over his last five starts (35 2/3 innings).
VMI ace Josh Widner, who entered Saturday with 100 strikeouts and 16 walks in 89 innings this season, matched Schuermann for the first six innings.
Furman finally broke through when Landon Kay blasted a two-run home run in the seventh. It's the 10th homer of the season for Kay and sixth in his last eight games. The Paladins added two more runs in the seventh on an RBI-double by Bret Huebner and an RBI-single by Jabari Richards.
Josh Hollifield had all of the Keydets' offense with his first collegiate homer in the eighth.
Game 2 - Furman 8, VMI 2
Gaddis cruised through eight scoreless innings to record his fifth consecutive win and lower his SoCon-best ERA to 1.92, capping the doubleheader sweep in a game that took 2:05. Gaddis (7-3) allowed four hits - all singles, one walk and struck out six.
The Paladins took a 3-0 lead in the third after four consecutive two-out hits. Cam Whitehead started the scoring with a home run. After a Bret Huebner singled, Jake Crawford doubled him home. Jabari Richards' single scored Crawford.
After Kay led off the sixth with a double, Whitehead homered again to push Furman's lead to 5-0. That pulled Whitehead into a tie with Kay and Brandon Elmy for the team lead in homers (10).
Crawford capped the scoring with a three-run homer in the eighth.
Kay went 3-for-4 to lead a Furman offense that piled up 14 hits.
In the ninth, Matt Pita tripled and Tyler Tharp followed with his 16th home run to account for the scoring for VMI (20-29, 6-14).
*Video courtesy of Dan Scott.
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