College of Charleston
Furman
Hentz, Bullpen Lead Cougars Past Furman, 12-8; CofC Plays Furman at 10:00 AM Saturday
5/22/2008 4:00:00 AM | Baseball
Charleston, S.C. -- Mike Hentz delivered a key two-run double in the eighth inning and the College of Charleston bullpen blanked Furman over the final 5 1/3 innings en route to a 12-8 win over the Paladins in Game 7 of the 2008 Bennett Hofford Southern Conference Baseball Championship before 1,195 at Joe Riley Park on Thursday.
The Cougars, who improved to 38-19 on the season and 2-0 in the SoCon Tournament, advanced to play Furman in the semifinals at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. The Paladins, who are 33-23 on the season, outlasted Appalachian State, 13-12, on Friday.
Hentz's two-run double in the eighth with one out scored Michael Harrington and Gabe Marchant and gave Charleston a 12-8 lead.
Charleston's relief corps of Mike Lynn and Michael Kohn closed out the game and surrendered only two hits with seven strikeouts after the Paladins grabbed an 8-6 fourth inning lead.
The Cougars took a 1-0 first inning lead on Harrington's RBI double to left center. After the Paladins tied the game with an unearned run in the second, the Cougars scored five unearned runs with two outs in the bottom of the frame to take a 6-1 lead. Harrington and Joey Bergman had two-run singles to cap the inning.
Furman scored seven times in the fourth. Jay Jackson's had a two-run single and Matt Hemingway's first homer of the season, a two-run shot to left, tied the game at 6-all. Reese Wade's two-out, two-run single to left capped the frame and gave the Paladins an 8-6 lead.
Marchant's two-run single in the bottom of the fourth plated Harrington and Bergman and tied the game at 8-8.
Charleston took the lead for good in the sixth inning. After Jeremie Tice and Harrington walked to start the inning, Bergman's grounder to third was misplayed for an error that allowed Tice to score and gave Charleston a 9-8 lead. Hentz drove in Harrington with a grounder to first for a 10-8 Cougar advantage.
Harrington reached base five times in five plate appearances as he collected three hits and walked twice. He scored four times and drove in three runs. Harrington has 81 RBI on the season. Hentz finished with three hits and three runs driven in. Clay McCord and Bergman had two hits each.
Lynn (2-0) picked up the win in relief after allowing no runs on just one hit with three strikeouts over 3 2/3 innings. Lynn recorded the final out of the Paladin fourth, the first of 11 consecutive Furman batters he retired before tiring in the eighth.
Kohn, who took over for Lynn with one out and two runners on in the eighth, struck out Furman's Campbell Lewis and Connor Lind to end the threat. In the ninth, Kohn worked around a walk and a hit by fanning the final two batters to notch his fourth save of the season.
Ryan Lang (0-2) suffered the loss surrendering two unearned runs on just one hit over 1 2/3 innings.
Post Game Quotes
College of Charleston Coach John Pawlowski
General Statement - “Today, and we talked about this a lot before the game, had to be a team effort. A lot of guys stepped up for us and helped us win a big ball game today. This was the epitome of a team effort, we really rallied the troops after that seven run inning and battled.”
On Pitching - “Our pitching was very good following that one rocky inning. Kohn came in and slammed the door at the end and I cannot say enough about the job of Mike Lynn. The biggest thing for us coming into this tournament was going to be how well we pitched. Our team is going to play pretty good defense and we will hit the ball. Pitching has certainly passed its test so far.”
Pitcher Mike Lynn
“I can't say enough about our defense. They were incredible behind me and we fought hard and came through.”
On Saturday- “Our intensity is going to be there anyway offensively. With pitching it's going to be big to get the day off.
Furman coach Ron Smith
General Statement- “Anytime you commit six errors against a quality baseball team like the College of Charleston its going to be a long night. Defensively we had been good all year and tonight we did not play sound and things went down hill fast. Tomorrow the team that makes the fewest mistakes between us and App State will be in good shape.”
Game Notes
? College of Charleston is 2-2 vs Furman in tournament play all time, with the last meeting coming in 2005 (9-7 Furman win) ...
? College of Charleston became the first team to score 600 runs in a season with it's five run second inning. CofC currently has 607 runs on the year ...
? CofC's Michael Harrington's extended his hitting streak to 15 games; Jeremie Tice's 5 game home run streak however came to an end ...
? Furman tied it's season high for errors in a game with six. Furman came into the game however leading the SoCon in fielding percentage at .966.
