Baseball: Cats start tournament play against Furman

Furman vs. Western Carolina 
GAME 54 | MAY 21 | 1:00 PM ET
Charleston, SC | Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park
Catamount Sports Network | Live Video (free) | Live Stats

The Paladins beat UNCG by a final score of 6-5 in 11 innings Tuesday, in their play-in game in the Southern Conference Baseball Tournament and will face the number 1 seed Catamounts on Wednesday.

Both the Spartans and Paladins had 15 hits in the game, but the determining factor was the four errors committed by the Spartans, with two of those four errors coming in the bottom of the 11th inning.

Furman enters Wednesday's game against the Catamounts with a 24-31 overall record and are 11-15 in the SoCon. In road games this season, the Paladins are 11-13 and they are 3-2 in games on neutral fields. Furman is 6-4 in their last 10 games.

If you'll recall, the Paladins took two games from the Cats in Cullowhee back in early March, winning games 2 & 3 of the series. Bradley Strong put up four hits and drove in two runs as the Cats rode the eight strikeout performance by starter Jeremy Null, as the Cats won game one, 5-4. In game #2, Furman scored three unearned runs with two outs in the top of the ninth inning as the Cats dropped game two, 9-6. In game three, a strong eight-inning pitching effort by Furman's Tyler Wood limited the offensive effort by the Catamounts, as Furman won the rubber match by a final score of 6-1.

This could be a dangerous game for the Cats, with the Paladins coming into Wednesday's game with lots of confidence.  First team All-Southern Conference selection, right-hander Jordan Smith (8-4) will be the starting for the Catamounts on Wednesday. Smith is WCU's all-time leader in games started (58) and innings pitched (368.1), Smith also led the SoCon with 98.2 innings pitched during the regular season.


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