May 4, 2005
Greenville, S.C. – Furman scored three runs in the first inning and three pitchers combined to limit South Carolina to four hits as the Paladins defeated the 13th ranked Gamecocks 6-2 on Wednesday evening at Greenville Municipal Stadium. Furman is now 22-20 on the year while the loss drops Carolina to 32-13.
Furman reliever Ryan Hudson earned the win in relief and is now 2-2 on the year. Carolina starting pitcher Wynn Pelzer took the loss and is now 1-2 on the year. Pelzer worked two innings and allowed three runs, two earned, on one hit with two walks and two strikeouts. USC reliever Andy Lambert hurled a career-high five 2/3 innings with six strikeouts and allowed just two runs on five hits.
Furman would go ahead 3-0 in the first inning taking advantage of early control problems by Pelzer. Ben Terry and Andrew Greene opened the frame with walks and Case Cassedy was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Matthew Betsill put the Paladins in front with a RBI single to right field. Furman would score the second run on a double play groundout by A.J. Davidiuk and the third on a wild pitch from Pelzer.
South Carolina cut the deficit to 3-1 in the third inning as Steve Pearce extended his hitting streak to eight games with a one-out RBI double to score Michael Campbell. With runners on second and third base, Furman starting pitcher Matt Klinker worked his way out of a jam as he struck out Phil Disher and Ryan Mahoney to end the inning.
Furman increased the lead back to three runs in the fifth inning with a two-out RBI single from Case Cassedy. Nick Wajda led off the inning with a walk, advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt and reached third on a wild pitch. Cassedy lined the single to right field to score Wajda and give Furman a 4-1 advantage.
South Carolina would again cut the deficit to two runs in the seventh inning as Brendan Winn led the frame off with a homer to right field, his 11th of the year. The Gamecocks stranded runners on second and third base with one out as Paladin reliever Nick Hollstegge coaxed Pearce into a pop up to shortstop and struck out pinch hitter Jon Willard to end the Carolina rally. Furman would score two runs in the final inning as a wild pitch and a fielding error brought home the final runs for the Paladins.
Pearce had two of the four Carolina hits with six different Furman players collecting hits on the evening.
South Carolina returns to SEC action on Friday evening at 7 p.m. as the Gamecocks begin a three-game series at Tennessee. First pitch for Saturday’s game will be 1 p.m. with the game televised on CSS-TV. Sunday’s finale is set for a 2 p.m. start.
