ETSU ends another Furman season

Landon Kay went 2-for-4 with an RBI in Furman's 5-2 loss to ETSU
at the SoCon Tournament Thursday. Photo courtesy of Furman.

A frustrating 2018 baseball season came to an end in a bizarrely fitting fashion for Furman Thursday afternoon in the Southern Conference Tournament at Fluor Field. The Paladins trailed ETSU 5-2 with two out in the ninth when Bret Huebner and Sims Griffith had consecutive singles that should've brought up Ben Anderson as the potential tying run.

But Furman's best player, who was due after a rough tournament, never made it to the plate. After Griffith's ball kicked off of ETSU leftfielder Ben Jackson, Huebner was waved around third and tagged out at home to end it.

The baseball team became the latest program whose season ended at the hands of the Buccaneers, joining men's basketball, men's tennis and softball. Furman went 2-5 against ETSU in SoCon tournaments this season, with the women's tennis and women's soccer teams accounting for the wins.

For the second game in a row, Furman's offense was held in check. ETSU starter Ryan Simpler (7-6), who entered with a 5.46 ERA and a loss during the Paladins' final series of the regular season, pitched a complete game. Simpler scattered 10 hits, had no walks and four strikeouts, and threw 95 of his 134 pitches for strikes.

Furman took an early lead on Landon Kay's RBI-single with two out in the first. The Bucs (28-24) came back in the third with three runs, all scored with two out. Jason Costa's two-out RBI-single in the fifth sliced ETSU's lead to 3-2. The Bucs added some insurance in the eighth on Cade Gilbert's two-run double.

Furman (24-28) finished the tournament with three extra-base hits - doubles by Landon Kay, Logan Taplett and Bret Huebner on Thursday, and no walks. After drawing three three-ball counts on Wednesday, Furman batters had only two Thursday. Anderson, who reached base via a hit, walk or hit by pitch in 47 of 50 regular season games including 32 consecutive to end the regular season, only reached base once in the tournament on an error.

In their final college game, Costa, Kay, Huebner and Griffith had two hits apiece to lead the Paladins.

Samford's 1-2 punch blanks Paladins

Furman senior left-hander Grant Schuermann.
Photo courtesy of Furman.

Senior left-hander Grant Schuermann gave Furman a fighting chance Wednesday, but Samford's 1-2 punch from two of the best pitchers in the Southern Conference was too much to overcome. Samuel Strickland and Wyatt Burns combined on four-hit shutout as the second-seeded Bulldogs beat the Paladins 4-0 in the opening round of the SoCon Tournament at Fluor Field.

No. 7 seed Furman (24-27) will face either Wofford or ETSU in an elimination game Thursday at approximately 12:30 p.m.

"We pitched so well and played such good defense, we just faced two of the top four arms in the conference," Furman coach Brett Harker said. "You can't ask anything more out of Grant Schuermann. He absolutely pitched his tail off.
"The bottom line is we just couldn't make enough adjustments."

Samford (33-24) took advantage of a scoring opportunity to take a first-inning lead. After Furman was unable to turn what should've been an inning-ending double play on Brooks Carlson's routine grounder to short, a wild pitch sent Carlson to second. He then came around to score on Ayrton Schafer's single.

The score remained 1-0 until the eighth. After Samford loaded the bases with nobody out, Tyler Kimbrell came on in relief of Schuermann. Carlson greeted Kimbrell with a two-run single and pinch-hitter Connor Burns followed with a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 4-0.

Meanwhile, Furman never managed an offensive threat. After leadoff man Ben Anderson reached second on a Samford error to open the game, the Paladins didn't have a man reach scoring position the rest of the game.

Strickland, who inexplicably didn't win SoCon Freshman of the Year, allowed two hits over six scoreless innings lowering his season ERA to 1.89. He had no walks and 10 strikeouts Wednesday giving him 15 walks and 82 strikeouts in 76 1/3 innings. Burns gave up two hits over the final three innings, lowering his ERA to 1.77, for his 11th save. The SoCon's active career leader in saves had no walks and three strikeouts, giving him nine walks and 73 Ks in 56 innings this year.

"They're really good, but we also expanded the zone big time tonight," Harker said. "Honestly, I don't know if I've ever seen somebody swing at fastballs that high. We just made (Strickland's) job a little too easy and just never got anything going offensively."

While technically reaching base in the first on the Samford miscue, Anderson saw his streak of reaching base in 32 consecutive games come to an end.

Nik Verbeke (5-4, 4.45 ERA) is Thursday's scheduled starter for Furman.

Furman women's golf takes aim at NCAA title

The seventh-ranked Furman women's golf team begins play at the
NCAA Championships in Stillwater, Okla. Friday afternoon.

In 2016, the Furman women's golf team played in the NCAA Championships for the first time in eight years and finished 20th. Last season, the Paladins returned to the NCAA Championships and finished 12th. Furman will wrap up this season by trying to continue climbing that ladder, with hopes of ascending to the top.

The No. 7-ranked Paladins open play at the 2018 NCAA Championships in Stillwater, Okla. today with a tee time of 2:21 p.m. Furman, which is paired with No. 8 Arizona and No. 9 Texas, will tee off in Saturday's second round at 9:36 a.m.

The Paladins advanced to the NCAA Championships with a third-place showing at the NCAA Tallahassee (Fla.) Regional last week. Furman shot an opening round 280 there to put itself in prime position to be among the six qualifiers for the nationals, then locked up its invitation with a final round 273. Furman was led by 2018 Southern Conference Player of the Year Natalie Srinivasan, who finished third with a 12-under 204. Teammate Jacqueline Bendrick placed ninth at 7-under.

"It got close there a little bit, but they really persevered at the end and made a lot of birdies," Furman coach Jeff Hull said afterwards. "I am especially proud of Natalie and Jacqueline for third and ninth place finishes, respectively. I am really excited to go to nationals and, hopefully, make it to match play with a chance to win a national championship."

Tallahassee marked the second consecutive outstanding regional for Srinivasan, a sophomore out of Spartanburg. At the 2017 Lubbock (Texas) Regional, she tied for fifth place. Srinivasan's showing in Lubbock came after she won the SoCon Tournament by four strokes over teammate Alice Chen. Hull said that SoCon showing "flipped a switch" for Srivasan, who went on to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open and U.S. Amateur following last year's NCAA Championships.

That momentum carried over into this season for Srinivasan, whose 72.08 average score over 32 rounds ranks among the best in the country. She added to her stellar season last week when she opened the Tallahassee Regional with a 65. In the storied history of the women's golf program, no Paladin has ever had a lower round as she tied a record set by Caroline Peek Blaylock in 1995.

"She has been really close to going low like this, so it was great to see her put it together," Hull said.

Srinivasan was honored to earn the SoCon's award as its top player. She said it was even more special simply because of the teammates she beat out for it.

"I had a really good year and was fortunate to play well in some big tournaments, but any of us on this team could win that," Srinivasan said.

There's plenty of truth behind Srinivasan's modesty. That was fully evident during a dominant display by Furman at this year's SoCon Championship. The Paladins had four of the top three finishers led by medalist Reona Hirai. Srinivasan was four back in second. Haylee Harford and Chen tied for third at five back, while Bendrick finished eighth. It all added up to a 34-stroke victory, the seventh-largest margin in SoCon history and largest since Furman's 38-stroke win in 1999.

All five Paladins made the All-SoCon team this season, while Madison Moosa made the All-Freshman team. Hull was SoCon Coach of the Year for the second time in as many years as head coach.

"We've proven that all five players can win a golf tournament," Hull said. "We've got the second-lowest drop score average in the country, meaning the score that doesn't count."

Furman's focus now turns towards trying to earn the prestigious program's first national championship since 1976. That season, World Golf Hall of Famers Betsy King and Beth Daniel led the Paladins to the AIAW national title.

At the NCAA Championships, the 24-team field that will have 54 holes of stroke play today through Sunday. The top 15 left will have one round on Monday. From there the top eight go into a single elimination match-play bracket. The finals will be Wednesday.

For Srinivasan, nothing would be greater than helping send the seniors (Bendrick, Chen, Hirai) out on top. While golf is in many ways the ultimate individual sport, that team mentality still permeates through the Paladins.

"I think about this being the seniors last shot all the time. It will definitely be different next year without them," Srinivasan said. "We just want to make them have the best last year possible.
 "Over the last couple of years, our team has been so deep. It's really cool that we're able to have such good players here. You don't really have to worry because you know if you don't play well, somebody else will."

For live scoring updates from the NCAA Championships, click here.

Paladins earn critical series win at ETSU

Ben Anderson had two hits, including his school-record seventh triple
this season, and three RBIs in Furman's 9-4 win at ETSU Sunday.

One good trend for Furman's baseball team stopped Friday at ETSU, but a not-so-good one also changed over the rest of the weekend. It added up to a huge series win for the Paladins. After getting hammered 15-2 in Friday's series opener, Furman came back with a 6-5 win on Saturday and a 9-4 win Sunday. Entering the weekend, the Paladins were 4-2 in opening games of SoCon series, but just 3-9 in the second and third games of series.

Reversing that scenario proved to be significant for Furman's place in the SoCon standings going into the final week of the regular season. Perhaps most importantly, the Paladins have assured themselves of not being in the No. 8 vs. 9 "play-in" game at the SoCon Tournament. The Citadel and Western Carolina have clinched eighth and ninth place, respectively.

While currently in seventh place in the SoCon, Furman (24-26, 9-12) could finish as high as fourth. The Paladins are a game behind ETSU and Mercer and hold the tie-breaker over both. Furman is two games back of VMI and doesn't have that tie-breaker. Coming up this week, Mercer hosts Citadel, ETSU plays at third-place Wofford and VMI is at second-place Samford. The Paladins host first-place UNC Greensboro, which has already clinched the top seed for the tournament.

On Sunday, the Paladins jumped out to an early lead and got a couple of strong pitching performances to make it hold up. Freshman left-hander John Michael Bertrand allowed four runs on five hits in six innings to get the win. Bertrand (5-3) had one walk and four strikeouts. Tyler Kimbrell worked three scoreless innings for his sixth save. Kimbrell gave up two hits and one walk and struck out five.

Furman took a 3-0 lead in the second on an RBI-single by Sims Griffith and a two-run triple by Ben Anderson. It was the seventh triple of the season for the freshman, which is a new Furman record. The lead grew to 5-0 in the fifth before ETSU got on the board on Jackson Greer's solo homer with two out.

The Buccaneers (26-21, 10-11) cut the lead to one in the seventh. After Caleb Longley hit the second pitch of the bottom of the seventh out for his SoCon-leading 14th homer, Aaron Maher hit a two-run shot five pitches later to make it 5-4 Furman. Kimbrell came on and blanked ETSU the rest of the way.

The Paladins gave Kimbrell some breathing room with a four-run eighth. Furman opened the inning with four consecutive hits, including an RBI-double by Jake Crawford and RBI-single by Logan Taplett. Ben Anderson and Jabari Richards had back-to-back RBI-singles to cap the inning.

Anderson, Crawford, Taplett and Bret Huebner each had two hits to lead Furman.

The Paladins wrap up non-conference play Tuesday, hosting Gardner-Webb at 6 p.m. The UNCG series begins Thursday at 6 p.m. at Latham Stadium.

Schuermann, Paladins earn gutsy win at ETSU

Furman left-hander Grant Schuermann tossed one of the most effective 13-hitters you'll ever see and the Paladins held on for a 6-5 win at ETSU Saturday. Schuermann's complete game effort evened the series heading into Sunday's rubber game.

Despite the 13 hits, Schuermann was able to go the distance on a total of 101 pitches. That was thanks to no walks, while the senior also posted a career-high eight strikeouts. After Christian Bailey's pinch-hit, three-run double cut Furman's lead to one with two outs in the ninth, Schuermann (4-7) got ETSU leadoff man Ben Jackson to pop out, securing his fourth career complete game.

Furman (23-26, 8-12 Southern Conference) staked Schuermann to an early 5-0 lead. Jabari Richards homered on the fifth pitch of the game in the first before the Paladins pushed four runs across in the second inning. The second began with four consecutive hits, including an RBI-single by Logan Taplett and RBI-double by Bret Huebner. The first out of the inning came on a squeeze bunt by Sims Griffith that made it 4-0. Ben Anderson followed with an RBI-single in running his streak of reaching base to 31 consecutive games.

Schuermann blanked the Bucs (26-20, 10-10) for six innings before they cut the Paladins lead to 5-2 in the seventh. Furman's Jason Costa provided what turned out to be a huge insurance run in the ninth with his team-leading ninth home run.

Taplett, Huebner, Anderson, Costa and Landon Kay each had two hits to lead the Paladins' 13-hit effort.

Sunday's final game of the series, which is Furman's final road game of the season, is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.

Six homers help ETSU hammer Paladins

Six of ETSU's 11 extra-base hits went for home runs Friday as the Buccaneers whipped Furman 15-2 in the opening game of a three-game series in Johnson City, Tenn. Every ETSU starter had at least one hit and one run, and eight of the nine had at least one RBI. The Bucs piled up 17 hits as a team.

The Paladins (22-26, 7-12 Southern Conference) actually led 2-1 in the fourth inning thanks to a two-run home run by Jason Costa in the third. However, ETSU rallied violently over the next three innings with four runs in the fourth, seven in the fifth and three in the sixth.

Furman starter Nik Verbeke appeared to have a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, but a two-out error kept the inning alive. The Bucs made the Paladins pay as Chris Cook capped the inning with a three-run homer to make it 5-2.

An inning later, ETSU got solo home runs from Aaron Maher and Ethan Rice ahead of a grand slam by Caleb Longley. It was Longley's second homer of the night and SoCon-leading 13th of the season. The Bucs' onslaught wrapped up in the sixth with a leadoff homer by Jackson Greer, followed by back-to-back triples that were both lost in the lights by Furman outfielders and a sac fly.

Longley had four hits to lead ETSU (26-19, 10-9). Bucs starter Micah Kaczor allowed all five of Furman's hits over his six innings of work. Kaczor (5-4) had two walks and eight strikeouts.

Game two of the series is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m.

Furman's Bert is NCAA's strikeout queen

Furman's Lindsey Bert, the SoCon Softball Pitcher of the Year, leads the
country in strikeouts with 317 this season. Photo courtesy of Furman.

The Furman softball team begins its quest for a Southern Conference Tournament championship Wednesday when the Paladins face ETSU at 3 p.m. in Greensboro, N.C. As the No. 3 seed, Furman may not be widely considered the team to beat, but the Paladins definitely have the pitcher to beat.

With an NCAA-best 317 strikeouts this season, Furman's Lindsey Bert is the SoCon Pitcher of the Year for the second year in a row. Bert, a senior from Tallahassee, Fla., has earned All-SoCon honors each of her four years including three first-team selections. She collected five SoCon Player of the Week awards this season, including the final three, giving her a SoCon-record 12 in her career.

"With some of the things we've done and the competitive nature with which we ran practices and prepared ourselves for this year, I think she's pitching with that demeanor and just a little more nasty," Furman coach Wally King said. "She's really coming at people. It's amazing sometimes to watch how many swings and misses she gets. I've been around for a long time and there have been very few pitchers I've seen get as many as she does.
"She's just taken that leadership role this year of putting us on her shoulders and saying 'get me two or three runs and we're good.' "

Bert earned Pitcher of the Year in 2017 by going 18-12 with a 2.10 ERA and 197 strikeouts in 196 2/3 innings. She soared past those numbers with eye-popping ones this season, shattering Furman single-season records along the way. Her 25 wins, 12 shutouts and 317 strikeouts are all new Paladin records. Bert also established new school career records with 85 wins, 900 2/3 innings pitched, 30 shutouts and 879 strikeouts.

"With the coaching change and everything, I thought last year would be really hard to beat," Bert said. "Coach King has been great. If you just sit down and talk ball with him, he can do it for hours. He just has so much knowledge of the game in every aspect.
"I've been determined to be better because we haven't done what we've wanted to do all my four years, which is win the (SoCon) tournament. My motivation was to work as hard as possible because it's my last year and my teammates have definitely pushed me to be better.

Only one other player in the country has more than 286 strikeouts this season - Evansville's Morgan Florey with 303. No other SoCon player had more than 159. Bert's tied for the NCAA lead in shutouts, which also ties for the SoCon single-season mark. She enters the SoCon Tournament 14 strikeouts shy of the league's single season record of 331, set by Chattanooga's Lacey Swarthout in 2004.

In addition to leading the SoCon in wins and strikeouts, Bert also led in innings pitched (230) and even topped the league in saves (4). Her 1.58 ERA and .177 opposing batting average each ranked second in the SoCon. In SoCon play this year, Bert went 8-3 with a 1.17 ERA and 128 strikeouts in 71 2/3 innings.

"I can thank (former coach) Kyle Jamieson for a big part of my success the past four years. Without him, I would not be where I am as a player. We put in a ton of hours on the field my freshman year," Bert said. "He worked so hard with me on my rise ball, which is my best pitch. That's solely why I get as many strikeouts as I do."

Bert was one of five Paladins who earned All-SoCon honors this week. Second baseman Casey Bigham and pitcher/designated player Emily DeMonte each made the first team, while first baseman AnnaRose Borrelli and third baseman Hannah Reynolds were second-team selections.

Bigham, the 2017 SoCon Freshman of the Year, hit .353 and had a .560 on-base percentage. Bigham, who committed just one error last season, fielded at a .954 clip this year. DeMonte went 13-3 with a 3.09 ERA in 18 appearances this season, while batting .299 with four home runs and 13 RBIs.

Borrelli, a senior, batted .289 with 12 home runs and 41 RBIs. She belted walk-off homers in victories over NCAA RPI No. 32 Wichita State and ETSU. Borrelli is Furman's all-time home run leader with 33 in her career. Reynolds hit .273 with 10 homers and 27 RBIs and was a big force in SoCon play. The senior had a .574 slugging percentage in league play with five home runs, including a walk-off shot against ETSU.

Those kind of efforts helped the Paladins go 38-13 overall and 10-6 in SoCon play in King's first season as head coach. Furman established a school record with a 27-3 mark at home this season.

"The transition (of a coaching change) hasn't been difficult. That senior group and their leadership really made it easy. They helped buy in with everything that was kind of new that I was bringing," King said. "The team did a great job of acclimating to the differences and continuing to do well at the things they had in the past. It was really just building on what their strengths are and finding our identity as a team."

Furman won seven of its final nine games, including a series win at second-place Mercer over the weekend, to take momentum into SoCon Tournament. The Paladins will be looking to start off on the right foot Wednesday after losing each of the past three SoCon Tournament openers.

While it's possible to reach the championship game after losing the tournament opener - as Furman did in 2016, it's a much tougher road. Staying in the winner's bracket and playing one game a day would be ideal for a team with a pitcher like Bert.

"For me personally, I've thrown a lot of innings and I expect to throw as much as I possibly can this week but if we win ... I don't have to throw two games in one day," Bert said. "That would be a huge help for me."
"Last year (as the No. 2 seed), we lost two and were the first team out and that left a bitter taste in our mouth. We've been working super hard and this is what we've worked so hard for all year. With seven seniors, I think our leadership is going to be huge."

Catamounts shut down Paladins to win series

For the second consecutive day, a Western Carolina starting pitcher doubled his win total for the season by silencing Furman. Junior left-hander Taylor Purus took a shutout into the ninth inning to power the Catamounts to a 5-2 win over the Paladins.

Sunday's win gave WCU (6-39, 4-17 Southern Conference) its first series win - and first back-to-back wins - of the season.

Purus (2-10), who had an 8.38 ERA entering Sunday, didn't allow a run until he gave up Deon Sanders' pinch-hit, two-run home run with one out in the ninth. Zach Franklin came on in relief and got the final two outs to wrap up the Catamounts' win. Purus scattered six hits and four walks over his 8 1/3 innings and had seven strikeouts.

After scoring 13 runs on 18 hits in the series opener Friday, the Paladins managed just one unearned run and nine hits - all singles - over the next 17 1/3 innings. Furman (22-25, 7-11) failed to score over the first four innings Sunday despite having the leadoff batter reach in each of those frames. The Paladins stranded nine baserunners for the game.

Western Carolina got all the runs necessary in a three-run third inning in which eight men batted. Justice Bigbie had three hits and an RBI, while Tristan Baker went 2-for-2 to lead the Catamounts.

Jake Crawford went 2-for-2 to lead Furman, but left the game with an injury after throwing a pitch in the ninth.

Furman, which is in seventh place in the SoCon - one game ahead of The Citadel and two back of ETSU, returns to action next weekend for a series at ETSU. Game one's first pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Catamounts shut down Paladins to even series

One night after scoring 13 runs over a span of five innings in the series opener against Western Carolina, Furman was shut down by a freshman with a 6.63 ERA Saturday. Chase Walter tossed a complete game to lead the Catamounts to their fifth win this season with a 2-1 victory over the Paladins at Latham Stadium.

Walter (2-6), who was allowing opponents to hit .312 entering Saturday, allowed one unearned run and four hits - all singles. The freshman, who had never gone more than seven innings this season, had two walks and eight strikeouts.

Walter got all the run support he needed in the first inning. After Furman turned a double play, Justin Sparks singled on an 0-2 pitch before Justice Bigbie homered on an 0-1 pitch to give WCU a 2-0 lead. All six runs the Catamounts have in this series have come with two out.

The Paladins (22-24, 7-10 Southern Conference) scored their lone run in the fourth inning. With runners on first and third, Walter faked a throw to third and turned back to first where Jabari Richards was picked off. Richards stayed in the rundown long enough for Brandon Elmy to try to score from third. Elmy made it thanks to an errant throw home by WCU (5-39, 3-17).

After Richards' single in the fourth, Furman didn't have another hit until Ben Anderson's two-out single in the eighth. Jason Costa followed with a single, but Walter got a strikeout to end the threat. Walter needed just six pitches in a 1-2-3 ninth to finish off the complete game.

The Paladins wasted one of starter Grant Schuermann's best performances of the season. Making his first start since April 14, Schuermann allowed two runs on six hits in seven innings. The junior left-hander had two walks and six strikeouts. Of Schuermann's 99 pitches, 73 went for strikes including his final 16 pitches.

The rubber game of the series is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday.

Paladins cruise past Western Carolina

Ben Anderson went 3-for-3 with two runs scored, three RBIs and reached
base six times in Furman's 13-4 win Friday. Photo courtesy of Furman.

Playing its first game at Latham Stadium since April 14, the Furman baseball team found the home confines very friendly Friday night. The Paladins collected 18 hits, including 16 from the fourth to the eighth inning, to cruise to a 13-4 win over Western Carolina.

Furman starter Nik Verbeke scattered seven hits over six innings and allowed one run to earn his team-high fifth win. Verbeke (5-3), who also lowered his ERA to a team-best 4.45, had no walks and four strikeouts.

With its fourth Southern Conference win over its last five conference games, Furman improves to 7-9 in league play. The Paladins are a half-game behind sixth-place ETSU in the SoCon.

"We got to see some of the things we've been working on finally converting over in games," Furman coach Brett Harker said. "I feel like we're playing a whole lot better and to be doing that in May is good."

The tone of the game for Western Carolina was set early. The first two Catamount batters reached base on singles before Cameron Blaquiere's line drive was snagged by Furman shortstop Bret Huebner for one out. Huebner then flipped to second to double off one runner and Sims Griffith fired to first to double off the other, completing a triple play.

The game remained scoreless until WCU took a 1-0 lead in the fourth, but Furman responded in a big way in the bottom of the inning. Jabari Richards led off by hammering a pitch to left field for his fifth home run. With runners on the corners and one out, Sims Griffith laid down a perfect bunt single to make it 2-0. Ben Anderson hit an RBI-single to left before Jason Costa capped the four-run inning with an RBI-double to right-center.

Furman added single runs in the fifth and sixth, two runs in the seventh and five more in the eighth. On the Paladins' eight run-scoring hits, six were hit the opposite way.

"I felt like we had a pretty good approach and they threw some really different looks at us," Harker said. "We had some good at-bats and ending up using some (of their) bullpen. If you make them use that many pitchers on Friday night that helps you the rest of the way.
"On the flip side, Nik goes six innings and is able to save a lot of our bullpen."

Anderson went 3-for-3 with two runs, three RBIs and reached base six times to lead Furman (22-23). Brandon Elmy had three hits - including his second career triple and team-leading 13th double, two runs and two RBIs, while Jake Crawford had three hits and three runs also for the Paladins.

Justin Sparks went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, while Spencer Holcomb also went 3-for-4 to lead the Catamounts (4-39, 2-17).

Game two of the three-game series is scheduled for Saturday at noon.