Paladins fall in SoCon Tournament opener

Trent Alley went 3-for-4 in Furman's loss to Mercer.
Photo courtesy of the Southern Conference

After winning its final four Southern Conference series of the regular season, Furman hoped to carry momentum into the SoCon Tournament. But in the fifth-seeded Paladins' tournament opener at Fluor Field Wednesday afternoon, any lingering momentum faded fast.

Furman batters combined for no walks and 10 strikeouts. Furman pitchers combined for nine walks and three strikeouts. And for one stretch in the third inning, Furman's defense had more errors in about 17 minutes than it had in the previous 17 days. It all added up to an 11-2 loss to fourth-seeded Mercer.

The Paladins (25-30) will face No. 8 seed Western Carolina in an elimination game Thursday at 9 a.m. Furman avoided trying to stay alive against top-seeded Samford as the Bulldogs rallied in Wednesday's opening game. The Catamounts led 4-0 with two out and nobody on in the bottom of the eighth before Samford scored a pair of runs that inning, added two more runs in the ninth, then got a walkoff home run to start the bottom of the 10th.

Furman jumped out on top in the first inning Wednesday. With two out, Dax Roper singled and came around to score when Trent Alley hit a rocket off the left-centerfield wall for a double.

Mercer (30-26) answered with single runs in the first and second before dealing Furman a back-breaking third inning. The inning started with the first two Bears reaching on groundball errors. After a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk, the Paladins committed their third error of the inning on a dropped pop up in foul territory.

Furman starter John Michael Bertrand struck out the next batter and had a chance to get out of the mess, but his 3-2 pitch to Jordan Ammons missed for ball four to force in a run. Mercer No. 8 hitter Bill Knight followed with a grand slam home run into the Green Monster seats to make it 7-1.

Furman got a run back in the fourth on Logan Taplett's RBI-single, but the Bears piled on with single runs in the fourth and fifth and two more in the sixth to put the game out of reach.

The error-prone third inning Wednesday came after the Paladins combined for just two errors over the final seven games of the regular season. The nine walks issued by Furman matched a season-high last done on April 26. The 10 strikeouts at the plate marked the 22nd game this season in which the Paladins had double-digit whiffs, but only the third time in the past 13 games.

Alley went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, while Taplett and Bret Huebner each went 2-for-4 to lead Furman.

Knight finished with two hits and five RBIs to lead the Bears. Alex Crotty had two hits and three RBIs and Collin Price had two hits and two RBIs also for Mercer..

Jones helps Paladins top Bears, earn No. 5 seed

Furman's Rutty Jones made his first career start a memorable
one against Mercer on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman

For the past four years, Rutty Jones has typically spent his collegiate baseball career looking on from the Furman dugout. Senior Days aren't typical though. They're special. Jones had no idea how special his would turn out to be when he arrived at Latham Stadium Saturday.

After being honored along with seven teammates in pregame Senior Day festivities, Jones had to quickly focus on a new task. Jones, who had logged a grand total of 21 1/3 innings in his career prior to Saturday, was given the ball to make his first career start.

"I was setting up BP for the 1,000th time that I've been here and coach came up to me and said, 'I think I'm going to give you the start. I'll give you the first batter.' I said, 'coach, I kind of want more than the first batter if you don't mind.' He said, 'if you get the first guy out, you get the next guy,' " Jones said. "I walked the first guy so I figured I was done. He looked and me and gave me this look like just to keep going."

Tasked with starting the rubber game against a Mercer team that had gone 10-2 in its previous 12 Southern Conference games, Jones rose to the occasion. While the Furman bullpen stayed active from the start, Jones just kept getting the Bears out. After that leadoff walk, Jones got a 6-4-3 double play three pitches later. He made it through the lineup unscathed before departing with two out in the third. Only an unturned double play in the second prevented him from three scoreless innings.

"I got lucky and my guys behind me helped me out," Jones said. "It was just an unbelievable day."

After getting knocked around a bit upon relieving Jones, Mason Kenney settled down over the middle three innings while Furman built a lead. Three more relievers protected that lead over the final three innings and it all added up to a 5-3 win.

The outing was Jones' fourth scoreless one in five appearances this year and matched a career long of 2 2/3 innings. After entering this season with a career ERA of 16.53, Jones' ERA this year fell to 3.52 Saturday.

"Rutty was supposed to go one hitter and then he made it one of the toughest decisions I've ever made," Furman coach Brett Harker said. "He's got a torn labrum and is having surgery after the season. He had just done something so awesome, I just thought it would cool for him to walk off the field (alone) instead of getting that third out.
"There's certain things in sports that happen that are just a little more special and that was one of them."

The victory gave the Paladins their fourth consecutive SoCon series win and secured a fifth-place finish in the league standings. Furman (25-29, 13-11) will have a rematch with Mercer to open SoCon Tournament play on Wednesday. The Paladins will take on the fourth-seeded Bears at approximately 12:30 p.m. at Fluor Field.

Rutty Jones (36), Eric Taylor (26), John Michael Boswell (8), Bret Huebner
(3), Jabari Richards (6), Nik Verbeke (21) and David Dunlavey (16)
stand with their families in pregame Senior Day festivities Saturday.

Furman took a 1-0 lead in the second when Jordan Starkes started Saturday like he finished Friday's walkoff win - with an RBI-single. Mercer (29-26, 14-10) got four consecutive hits off Kenney in the third to take a 2-1 lead. Kenney (2-1) allowed no runs and just two hits over the next three innings to pick up the win on his 19th birthday.

Speaking of birthdays, it was Brooks Robinson's 82nd birthday Saturday and Logan Taplett did his best imitation of the greatest defensive third baseman ever. Taplett made three incredible plays to rob the Bears of hits. He fielded a wicked hop down the third-base line and fired to first for the out before making a leaping catch of a line drive in the sixth and a diving catch of a liner in the eighth.

"Logan Taplett made some plays that you don't expect anybody to make and he made all of them," Harker said. "It was pretty impressive to see what he did for us."

Jones added, "It's crazy to think that guy (Taplett) was a catcher even this year at some points. He saved us run after run after run today."

Trailing 2-1 in the fourth, Furman scored a pair of runs to take a lead it never relinquished. Jared Mihalik led off with a single, stole second and later came home on David Webel's grounder with the bases loaded. A throwing error on the play sent Bret Huebner home with the go-ahead run.

After two outs to begin the bottom of the fifth, the Paladins loaded the bases for Huebner, who laid down a perfect bunt. That scored Taplett to make it 4-2. Jordan Beatson blanked Mercer on one hit over the next two innings before senior John Michael Boswell delivered a two-out RBI-single in the bottom of the eighth for a big insurance run.

In the top of the ninth, senior Eric Taylor got a pair of outs but a pair of walks brought Mercer No. 2 hitter Angelo DiSpigna to the plate at the potential tying run. Harker went against "the book" and walked DiSpigna, who entered Saturday with 12 home runs and 37 RBIs. That call was easier to make when it loaded the bases for Zach Miller rather than Kel Johnson. Miller entered as a pinch-runner in the eighth for Johnson, who leads the SoCon in homers (21) and RBIs (60).

Senior Nik Verbeke came on and quickly got ahead of Miller with a pair of swinging strikes. But his 2-2 pitch hit Miller to cut the lead to 5-3. Verbeke got the next batter to fly out to right to end the threat and collect the first save of his Furman career.

"I knew (putting the tying run on base) was the right thing to do and it was still hard to do it. Then we hit the guy and now that tying run's at second and I put him on there," Harker said. "At that point, you've just got to go with your gut and it worked out."

Webel, Mihalik and Banks Griffith had two hits apiece to lead Furman, which will carry plenty of momentum into the SoCon Tournament. From April 16 to the end of the regular season, the Paladins went 13-6, including 8-4 in conference play.

"What a big series for us. We just faced back-to-back No. 2 teams in the conference (Wofford last weekend) and for us to win our fourth (SoCon) series in a row, I'm just really, really proud of this group," Harker said. "It means we're headed in the right direction."

Furman takes momentum into final series

Furman catcher Dax Roper has 12 hits and 12 RBIs
over his last six games. Photo courtesy of Furman

While Samford has wrapped up the Southern Conference baseball regular season title and No. 1 seed in the tournament, there's plenty of dust to settle right behind the Bulldogs in the standings. The next four teams will face off against each other in the final series of the regular season beginning Thursday.

This includes fifth-place Furman (23-28, 11-10), which has been playing its best baseball of the season lately. The Paladins have won five of their last six games, including a win at South Carolina sandwiched between consecutive series wins for the first time this season. After taking two out of three games at Wofford last weekend, Furman pulled a 1/2-game ahead of sixth-place ETSU (31-17, 10-10) and 1 1/2 games back of the Terriers (31-22, 12-8).

The Paladins host Mercer (28-24, 13-8), which is tied for second with UNCG (32-16, 13-8). The Spartans host Wofford, also beginning Thursday. Furman can finish anywhere from third to sixth. If things hold as they currently are, the Paladins would face the Terriers at 9 a.m. Wednesday at Fluor Field. A third- or sixth-place finish would have Furman playing the final of four games that day.

While finishing sixth is obviously not what the Paladins are shooting for this weekend, Coach Brett Harker is more concerned with his team maintaining its consistent play  going into the tournament - no matter the seed.

"We're playing good baseball at the right time," Harker said. "Hopefully we can keep that momentum going against a really good opponent with Mercer rolling into town."

Talk of possibly finishing in the top half of the SoCon seemed out the window just two weeks ago when Furman dropped the opener of its home series against VMI. The lowly Keydets piled up a season-high 18 hits in their 10-4 win that Friday. The Paladins fell behind 3-0 by the middle of the third the next day before rallying to take an 8-3 lead through five innings. One batter into the sixth, a weather delay hit Latham Stadium and the teams sat around for more than four hours before play resumed.

After coming back from the lengthy delay, Furman didn't slow down in recording an 11-4 win. The Paladins posted a 13-5 win the next day to take the series. Along with wrapping up that series win, the Paladins also wrapped up their exams for the semester. The rest of the week, Furman played like a team that could more fully focus on baseball.

"We're playing really well. A lot of it is guys having a lot of stress of classes off their shoulders," Harker said. "And a lot of it is that we're just maturing. We might have some veteran guys at some positions, but we're not super experienced.
"We're not perfect and we're still screwing some stuff up that drives me nuts, but we're finally getting enough reps to play a lot more consistent. We're just a tougher team to beat over nine innings now."

Playing without an ill reigning SoCon Player of the Week in Dax Roper, Furman got a heck of a game caught by Logan Taplett in his place to win at South Carolina for the second year in a row last Wednesday.

"Any time he gets back in there, you'd think he's caught every game this year," Harker said of Taplett. "He's just so comfortable back there and does a great job calling the game, connecting with the pitchers and reading the hitters.
"It's all the things that he had to get a whole lot better at last year. It's amazing when you catch as many innings as he did last year how much you learn and grow in that position."

The momentum kept up at Wofford on Friday when Furman claimed the series win on the first day by sweeping a doubleheader, 7-3 and 9-3. Weather forecast concerns created the doubleheader and left Saturday open for the senior Paladins to participate in graduation that evening.

The next day, Furman fell behind 7-0 through five innings before rallying to take an 8-7 lead into the bottom of the ninth. The Terriers responded with a walkoff homer to salvage the final game, 9-8. While it was kind of a rotten cherry on top of a pretty nice cake for Furman, Harker was proud of how his team got up off the deck.

"I'm as proud of them as I could be. It's extremely hard to sweep a team and almost impossible on the road," Harker said. "We played so well on Friday, and with the weather and graduation and everything, we take all of Saturday off which is a very odd thing to do. Sunday, we were just getting dominated. The 10-run rule is in effect and it's looking like we might not even play nine innings.
"Then the guys show up, start going opposite field very well and all of a sudden we climb back in the game. Eric Taylor just kind of ran out of gas at the end, but we put ourselves in position to win a game in which we were down seven with four innings to play."

It's no coincidence that Furman's improved play has coincided with Jabari Richards getting hot again at the plate. Richards leads the Paladins with a .350 average, despite going 3-for-27 with no RBIs over an eight-game stretch from April 20-May 3. Richards' slump ended on May 4, when he had a squeeze bunt for an RBI to plate the Paladins' first run in that 11-4 win over VMI. His next time up, he bunted for a single. Since that at-bat, Richards has gone 11-for-23 with eight runs, six RBIs and four walks.

Meanwhile, Roper has gone 12-for-24 with 12 RBIs over his last six games. As a team, Furman is batting .339 with 59 runs scored over its last seven games.

The Paladins will face a strong test in a battle of teams that have won each of their last three SoCon series. Mercer is 10-1 in SoCon play since April 13, including a series win over Samford. The Bulldogs only other series loss this year came at South Florida to open the season. Game one of the series is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, while Friday and Saturday are set for 1 p.m. starts.

DeBusk among many influenced by Satterfield

Former Furman quarterback Frankie DeBusk talks with
coach Jimmy Satterfield. Photo courtesy of Furman

A memorial service was held Saturday for Jimmy Satterfield, who passed away last week at the age of 79 after a brief illness. While the pinnacle of Satterfield's football coaching career came in guiding Furman to the 1988 Division I-AA national championship, his influence went beyond any singular moment.

In addition to Satterfield's 21 years as an assistant and head coach with the Paladins, he also coached high school football at Eau Claire, Irmo and Lexington. All told, Satterfield coached, mentored and inspired football players for 40 years - all in the Palmetto state.

One of those players was Furman Hall of Fame quarterback Frankie DeBusk, who helped lead that 1988 squad. In the days after Satterfield's passing, DeBusk received numerous calls from friends. Many of them stated that DeBusk was the first person they thought to call after hearing the news. Under Satterfield's leadership, DeBusk left Furman as the school's all-time leader in passing and total offense.

"He was one of those guys that was easy for me to talk to and get along with," DeBusk said. "He gave me a lot of confidence as a person and a player. I spent so much time in the film room with him and coach (Tim) Sorrells and then coach (Bobby) Lamb. I was just one of those kids that loved watching all the film I could."

While passing numbers at schools across the country have taken off over the last two or three decades, DeBusk still ranks fifth on Furman's career passing chart. However, he's quick to point out that his arm wasn't a major factor in the Paladins' historic success in his first year as a starter in 1988.

"We were phenomenal on defense that year," DeBusk said. "We really didn't do a whole lot offensively until the next couple of years.
"I was very green as a sophomore and I remember the (fullback) Kennet Goldsmiths and (linebacker) Jeff Blankenships of the world meeting me at the numbers whenever I'd throw an interception to make sure we didn't do it again."

DeBusk can look back and laugh now at a particular tense time in Furman's game at Chattanooga that season. On that rainy day, the Paladins got on the scoreboard less than one minute in on Pat Turner's 13-yard interception return for a touchdown. Furman never crossed the goal line again the rest of the day, but still left with a 10-7 victory.

"Back in those days, coach Satterfield wore the headset but it was attached to his waist. It wasn't remote, where I could take it and walk away to talk to somebody. I got the headset and was talking to (quarterbacks) coach Sorrells, who was in the box," DeBusk said. "I was telling him, 'somebody needs to get down here and settle coach Satterfield down because he's losing it. We're not playing very good, but he's really panicking and losing it.'
"I give coach Satterfield the headphones back and then it dawned on me that he probably heard everything I just said. Later on in life, he used to tell that story all the time."

Jimmy Satterfield looks on in this photo
from 1986. Photo courtesy of Furman

Under Satterfield, who served as offensive coordinator for legendary coach Dick Sheridan before becoming head coach, and offensive coordinator Sorrells, the Paladins soared offensively in 1989. DeBusk threw 13 touchdowns and two interceptions that season. Since 1972, only Braniff Bonaventure (16 touchdowns, two interceptions in 1996) has had a season interception total that low among starting Furman quarterbacks.

It appeared the Paladins were well on their way to making it back-to-back national titles as they dominated I-AA competition throughout 1989. After touchdown runs of 54 and 20 yards by DeBusk in the first quarter of the 1989 playoff opener, his third run resulted in a season-ending knee injury. Along with DeBusk, Furman also lost fullback Dwight Sterling, tight end Paul Siffri and linebacker Kevin Kendrick to injuries that day in the win over William & Mary.

While the Paladins persevered and thumped Youngstown State the next week, their season ended at a snowy Paladin Stadium a week later. A failed two-point conversion with 19 seconds left resulted in a 21-19 loss to Stephen F. Austin in the I-AA semifinals.

Satterfield wrapped up his Furman coaching career after his eighth season as head coach in 1993. In his 21 years at the school, the Paladins posted 16 winning seasons. His .689 winning percentage (66-29-3) as a head coach ranks second in school history.

What stands out more than the lofty offensive numbers and wins Satterfield posted at Furman was the impact he made on players. DeBusk is just another member of the huge tree of former Furman players who went into coaching. After his playing career, DeBusk coached for 25 years. The last 18 of those came as head coach at Division II Tusculum College.

"I was just a little ole redneck from Greeneville, Tennessee that had no idea what I was going to do in life and Furman gave me a great opportunity," DeBusk said. "Coach Satterfield was a big part of a lot of people's lives. He was surrounded by a great staff of people that I've stayed close too over the years - Tim Sorrells, Bobby Johnson, Bruce Fowler, Bobby Lamb, Clay Hendrix. Those guys were all part of that family that made us very successful.
"What was so neat looking back on it now was that coach Satterfield brought back so many of his former players or guys that had been around Furman. Probably 85 percent of his staff were Furman graduates. You just don't see that in college athletics in anymore."

That coaching influence is still clearly evident today at Furman in Hendrix.

"As an offensive coach, (Satterfield) had one of the most creative minds I have ever been around. There are many things we continue to do today that coach Satterfield had a hand in developing," Hendrix said. "He gave me my first coaching job when I was 24 years old and didn't know anything. He also attended the press conference 29 years later when I became Furman's head coach."

Sandwiched around his tenure at Furman was a pair of high school state championship appearances. Satterfield's Eau Claire team reached the 1970 Class AAAA state title game and 30 years later, his Lexington team played for the 2000 Class AAAA Division I title.

Satterfield retired from coaching after his final season at Lexington in 2003. In his 21 years as a head coach, Satterfield's teams went 189-63-8. He's a member of Furman and the South Carolina Athletic Halls of Fame.

"He had an incredible impact on so many young men and sincerely cared about what kind of men, fathers, husbands and citizens we would all become," Hendrix said. "Coach Satterfield loved his players and coaches, but what I will remember most about him was how much he loved his wife, kids, and family."

Alley powers Furman past Gamecocks - again

Trent Alley's go-ahead, two-run single in the ninth lifted Furman to a
7-4 win at South Carolina Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Furman

When the Furman baseball team knocked off South Carolina last season, it marked the Paladins' first win in Columbia in 10 years. On Wednesday, Furman made sure it wouldn't have to wait anywhere close to 10 for another one

Trent Alley, who fired six solid innings to defeat the Gamecocks on the mound last year, beat them at the plate on Wednesday. Alley's two-run single in the top of the ninth snapped a 4-4 tie and Furman went on to a 7-4 win. Without the services of reigning Southern Conference Player of the Week Dax Roper, who missed Wednesday's game due to illness, Furman coach Brett Harker moved Alley up to Roper's third slot in the batting order. The junior delivered three RBIs for the Paladins (21-27).

After falling behind 1-0 in the first, Furman took a 2-1 lead in the third when Jabari Richards belted his first home run since April 13. It was the eighth home run this season for Richards and the 30th of his career. That moves the senior into a tie with Bob Thomas for sixth on Furman's all-time home run ledger.

The Gamecocks (24-24) didn't want anything to do with Richards the rest of the night. He walked in each plate appearance the rest of the way to finish with four free passes for the game. One of those came on four straight pitches in the fifth to load the bases with one out for Alley, who hit a sacrifice fly to center to put Furman back in front 3-2. A wild pitch then sent David Webel home from third.

South Carolina came back with single runs in the sixth and eighth to tie it going into the ninth. A Furman offense that has struggled with non-fastballs and situational hitting this season looked nothing like that with the game on the line Wednesday.

Bret Huebner led off the ninth by taking a 2-2 breaking ball and lining it the opposite way for a single. Mason Kenney tried to bunt Huebner over, but pulled the bat back on an inside pitch and was struck on the arm. Webel laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third with one out. Richards intentionally walked to once again load the bases for Alley. Rather than trying to do too much, Alley simply bounced a grounder back up the middle. With the Gamecocks' middle infielders playing halfway, the ball got past them into centerfield and Huebner and Kenney scored easily. Logan Taplett padded the lead with an RBI-single.

Rob Hughes came on to close it out for Furman. While the freshman threw 13 pitches to the first two batters, who each drew walks, he needed just nine total pitches to retire the next three Gamecocks to end the game and record his second save.

Furman's Matt Lazzaro, Jordan Beatson, Nik Verbeke and Eric Taylor (2-0) combined to allow four runs on six hits and just one walk over the first eight innings. Beatson, a sophomore from nearby Irmo, had no walks and four strikeouts in his three innings of relief.

Wednesday marked Furman's final midweek game. The Paladins won each of their last four to go 7-6 in midweek games for the season. It's SoCon play the rest of the way as Furman travels to Wofford this weekend before wrapping up the regular season at home against Mercer next week.

Dominant Dunlavey shuts out Kansas

Furman's David Dunlavey fired a two-hit shutout as the Paladins
defeated Kansas 3-0 Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman

Latham Stadium was filled with energy Saturday afternoon. On perhaps the most perfect day of the year for baseball, there were plenty of families who watched as the Furman baseball team hosted Kansas for the second game of its weekend series. Under a cloudless blue sky, Northwest Little Leaguers stood with the Paladins in the pregame while a group from Welcome Elementary School sang the national anthem.

While many of those youngsters spent the next two hours in their own little world in the stands, they also got a first-hand look as to why baseball is simply the best.

One day after Kansas piled up 11 runs on 17 hits, nine walks and three hit batters, Furman's David Dunlavey silenced those Big XII bats. The Spartanburg native carried a no-hitter into the seventh before settling for a two-hit shutout as the Paladins defeated the Jayhawks, 3-0, in a game that lasted all of one hour and 54 minutes. It's Furman's first complete game shutout since Will Gaddis blanked ETSU at the 2016 Southern Conference Tournament.

"This is the first time all year that all the pitches that I've told everybody he has, he had them all," Furman coach Brett Harker said. "The only kid I've had that has his talent is Will Gaddis. He's got the fastball and two different breaking balls, the slider - which is devastating - and changeup. When he throws that changeup right, it's a knee-buckling pitch."

Dunlavey (3-7) fired a pair of strikes to start the game before his 1-2 pitch hit Kansas leadoff man Rudy Karre. After the Jayhawks' first batter reached base in six of Friday's nine innings, there had to be some trepidation that Furman might be in for another long day.

But there was no trepidation for Dunlavey - even after a passed ball and a sac bunt put Karre on third for Kansas slugger Jaxx Groshans, who entered batting .348 with 11 home runs and 35 RBIs. Dunlavey struck him out then got a groundout to leave Karre stranded on first.

"You've got literally one of the best hitters in the country up and he figures out a way to strike him out and strand that runner," Harker said. "All of a sudden we get the momentum in our dugout there and he just refused to ever give it back."

All the support needed for Dunlavey came in the bottom of the first. After Jabari Richards walked, stole second and went to third on an errant throw by the catcher, he came home on Sterling Turmon's two-out single to right.

Meanwhile, Kansas (21-20) didn't have another baserunner until two out in the fourth on an error. The next Jayhawk reached with two out in the sixth on Dunlavey's lone walk of the game. With two out in the seventh, Kansas' Benjamin Sems hit a hard grounder under the glove of diving second baseman Banks Griffith to end Dunlavey's bid for Furman's first no-hitter since 1979. Undaunted, Dunlavey didn't even have to make another pitch in the seventh as he picked Sems off to end the inning.

"My pickoff move is something I work on a lot. It's bailed me out a couple of times this year and right there got the momentum right back in our dugout," Dunlavey said. "I've been waiting a long time to pitch like this this year. It just seemed like everything was going my way today."

Furman (18-25) picked up a big insurance run in the bottom of the seventh when Jordan Starkes tripled to right and came home on Bret Huebner's bunt single on the next pitch.

Dunlavey was one out away from becoming the first Paladin to throw a one-hit shutout in 19 years before Kansas pinch-hitter Tom Lichty lined a single off the glove of Griffith. Three pitches later, Dunlavey got a fly ball to center to end the game before getting mobbed by teammates in celebration.

Dunlavey, who threw 125 pitches, finished with nine strikeouts - one shy of his season-high. Other than the one error, a Furman defense that has struggled in April was brilliant Saturday. Dunlavey's no-hit bid was preserved when Dax Roper hopped on a swinging bunt and made a perfect throw to first in the third. On the next play, third baseman Logan Taplett made a diving stop of a line drive and fired to first to end the inning. Later, David Webel ran down a ball along the rightfield line that not many other rightfielders would've reached.

"Webel back in right (field), that's where he changes games," Webel said. "I don't know if there's a ball he's not going to catch. That's the way he patrols right field."

The rubber game of the series is scheduled for Sunday at noon.

Kinda, sorta hot Paladins set to host Kansas

Furman reliever Hank Nichols collected the win in each of the Paladins'
extra-inning victories this week. Photo courtesy of Furman

The good news for the Furman baseball team is that it has won five of its last six games entering its non-conference home series against Kansas this weekend.

The better news - in a really odd sort of way - is that the Paladins haven't played all that well lately. Over those last six games, Furman has scored 26 runs - with nine of those in one win - and committed 12 errors. Two of those errors came in the ninth inning in each of the Paladins' midweek games this week and both led to game-tying runs that forced extra innings.

Yet Furman (17-24) somehow found a way to answer each time and improve to 4-1 in extra inning games this season. Finding ways to win often mean getting clutch performances from unlikely sources. On Tuesday, eighth-place hitter Bret Huebner (.231/2/13) delivered a walk-off RBI-single. The next night, in just his 24th at-bat this season, M.J. Sasapan (.208) chopped a single up the middle to end the Paladins' fifth walk-off win this season.

"We've lost as a team and stayed united and now we're learning to win as a team. It's not pretty right now, but we're figuring out what we need to do to win," Furman coach Brett Harker said. "That was a big problem early in the year.
"It's frustrating because you want to play clean baseball. That's why we do everything we do. But the bottom line is having to learn how to win whether you play your best or not."

It's no coincidence that Furman's offensive woes lately have coincided with the absence of John Michael Boswell from the lineup. Boswell (.323/5/30), who leads the team in RBIs, has missed each of the last six games due to injury and he remains out indefinitely. Fellow first baseman Anthony Fontana (.296/0/13), who's made eight starts and batted .357 since March 27, has also missed the last five games. On Wednesday, Sasapan got his shot after Trent Alley left with a minor injury.

Injuries are not, Furman's offensive struggles of late have been perplexing. After the Paladins were swept at Samford on March 24, the team batting average was .232. While that average has gone up to .263 currently, clutch hits have been hard to come by.

Furman has not had a hit in its last 14 at-bats with the bases loaded and has left at least 10 runners on base in 10 of its last 18 games. In two of those eight that Furman didn't reach double digits in runners stranded, the Paladins didn't have 10 reach base in the first place. This trend comes after leaving at least 10 men on base only twice over the Paladins' first 23 games. Those two games were a 16-11 win over Morehead State and a 12-7 loss to South Carolina, so it wasn't like the offense was absent in either of those.

A flaw last season that hasn't gotten better this season in strikeouts. Furman has struck out 378 times over 41 games (9.2 per game) this season. This comes after striking out 8.3 times per game last year. Two years ago, the Paladins averaged only 6.1 strikeouts per game.

"We have some power numbers that are coming at the expense of an alarming rate of strikeouts," Harker said. "For however frustrated anybody is in the stands, I can promise you that the kids in that locker room are working at it and doing everything they can. We just have to continue to prepare and find ways to make adjustments to get better."

Defensively, Furman has committed 29 errors in April and made at least one in 13 of 15 games this month. Ironically, the only two error-free games this month were a 2-1 loss at UNCG and a 5-1 loss at Western Carolina.

With all that covered of what's going not so well at the moment, the thing that is going well currently for the Paladins is pitching. Back to the Samford series, where after game two on March 23 Furman had a team ERA of 6.59. One month later, that ERA has been shaved to 5.35. Knocking more than a run off a team ERA over one month in the middle of the season is nothing to sneeze at.

Former midweek starter John Michael Bertrand (3-2, 3.74 ERA) has gone 2-0 with a 2.34 ERA over his last three starts to solidify his spot leading the weekend rotation. Others have stepped up. That was exhibited this week when Furman needed just five different pitchers to work the 21 innings of the two extra-inning games. That would've been unheard of for this staff in back-to-back midweek games earlier this season.

Sophomore Jordan Beatson, who's primarily worked in relief in his Furman career, allowed one earned run in a career-long 6 2/3-inning outing against USC Upstate on Tuesday. Freshman Mason Kenney made just one mistake - a two-run home run - in five innings in his first collegiate start Wednesday against Georgia State. Former weekend starter Nik Verbeke allowed just one unearned run in five innings of relief Wednesday before Hank Nichols came on to work a scoreless 11th and earn his second win in as many nights. Verbeke has an 0.73 ERA in his last five appearances, while Nichols hasn't allowed a run in his last four appearances.

"Our midweek pitching has just been lights out. We've really thrown the ball well, at a time when honestly I didn't know how we were going to get nine innings and then we needed to get 11," Harker said Wednesday. "Our front end guys are good and we think they can keep us in every game. Now we've got guys coming out here and giving us depth that honestly, in the past, we haven't had."

Furman will look to keep up the momentum as Kansas (20-19) comes to Greenville for the teams' first ever meetings in baseball. This series came about as a result of both teams having the weekend off in their respective nine-team conferences. This weekend series is part of a stretch of five games in six days and of an eight-game homestand. That will be capped by a visit from VMI as the Paladins resume Southern Conference play next weekend.

If pitching can remain steady - if not continue to improve - and proven run producers turn things around at the plate, that could leave Furman right where it wants to be heading into next month's SoCon Tournament.

"When you start seeing our depth (develop), that's when you say, 'this is a team that's fourth place in the SoCon and can make a run at this tournament.' " Harker said. "You're using guys in this five-game stretch that you're not typically going to use to find out who can handle it.
"Opportunity is what life is all about. It doesn't matter what circumstances happened for you to get that opportunity. Take advantage of it."