Western Carolina survived two back to back solo home runs by Furman in the top of eight inning to hold off the Paladins in the opener of a three-game Southern Conference baseball series Friday evening at Hennon Stadium. The 5-4 win pushed the Catamount winning streak up to 12 straight for Western Carolina (23-9, 9-1 SoCon) while the loss upped the Furman streak to seven straight losses (11-23, 2-8 SoCon).
The Catamounts led 5-2 in the top of the eight, before Greg Harrison and Chris Ohmstede slammed Catamount reliever Jonathan Waszak with back-to-back home run off a total of three pitches delivered by Waszak. Bryan Sammons replaced Waszak on the mound and got the next two outs before giving way to WCU's closer, Tyler Powell. Powell walked Furman's Hunter Burton to start the ninth inning, however Burton was thrown out attempting to steal. Powell retired the Paladins' next two batters to end the game and pick up his seventh save of the season.
Bradley Strong went 4-for-5, homered, and drove in two runs as the Catamounts finished with nine hits while holding Furman to six.
Game two starts a 4 pm on Saturday.
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