Western Carolina downs Samford to reach title game

No. 6 Samford 2, No. 4 Furman 0

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Left fielder Jordan Fucci hit a solo home run in the second inning for the only offense sixth-seeded Samford would need, and three pitchers combined on a seven-hit shutout as the Bulldogs topped No. 4 seed Furman 2-0 in an elimination contest Saturday at the Southern Conference Baseball Championship at Fluor Field.

The Bulldogs (35-25) get right back on the diamond at 7:40 p.m. to face No. 2 seed Western Carolina for the right to face No. 1 seed Mercer in Sunday’s title bout. Furman sees its season end at 29-30.

Fucci took Furman starter Jake Crawford out to left with one out in the second, and Samford starter Jared Brasher (3-4) made the lead stand, throwing four innings of four-hit ball. Brasher struck out seven and walked three in his first start since April 23.

Tanner Cunningham worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits, while Wyatt Burns earned his eighth save of the year with 1 1/3 innings of no-hit relief, walking two.

The Bulldogs got an insurance run in the sixth inning, with Richard Greene’s RBI single driving Alex Lee, who singled through the right side to lead off the inning.

Furman stranded 11 runners in the contest, leaving runners in scoring position in the second, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings. The Paladins left the bases loaded in the eighth, as a Jordan Simpson double and consecutive walks to Deon Sanders and Griffin Davis brought up pinch-hitter Landon Kay with a chance to put Furman in front. Burns, who walked Sanders and Davis and uncorked a wild pitch after entering, recovered to get Kay out on a popup in shallow center. Burns then worked a perfect ninth.

Samford had missed opportunities of its own, stranding 10 base-runners. The Bulldogs had runners on first and second in the ninth and SoCon RBI leader Heath Quinn at the plate, but Furman reliever Nolan Mullen retired him on an infield popup to send the Paladins to the bottom half within striking distance.

Crawford (0-5), starting for the first time since April 3, turned in one of his best appearances of the season in the losing effort. The freshman right-hander, who doubles as Furman’s everyday third baseman, went eight innings, allowing two runs on nine hits and one walk.

Fucci, Greene and Danny Rodriguez had two hits each to lead Samford, while Simpson and Sky Overton had two each for Furman.

The low-scoring contest was in stark contrast to the games Samford and Furman had played the day before. The Bulldogs scored a 12-11 win over ETSU on Friday, while Furman slugged its way to a 15-10 victory over UNCG, bringing the total to 48 runs scored in Friday’s two games.

No. 2 Western Carolina 7, No. 6 Samford 4

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Western Carolina will return to the Southern Conference Baseball Championship title game for the first time since 2010, as the second-seeded Catamounts got four hits from Kramer Ferrell and topped No. 6 seed Samford on Saturday, 7-4, to punch its ticket for Sunday’s title tilt at Fluor Field.

WCU (28-29) will face No. 1 seed and defending champion Mercer at 1 p.m. on ESPN3. The Catamounts and Bears played Saturday, as well, with Mercer topping Western Carolina 9-8 to drop the Catamounts into the losers’ bracket. WCU will have to top Mercer twice Sunday to win its first title since 2003 and record 10th overall. The Bears will be trying for their second title in as many seasons in the league and could become the SoCon’s first back-to-back winners since The Citadel won consecutive crowns in 1998 and 1999.

Samford, vying for its fifth title-game appearance in six years, saw its season end at 35-26.

Down 1-0 after Alex Lee’s second-inning home run, Western Carolina scored all seven of its runs from the third to fifth, tying the game on Brett Pope’s RBI single in the third before going ahead with three runs in the fourth, highlighted by J.D. Long’s two-run single. Three more runs following in the fifth on Danny Bermudez’s RBI double and Ferrell’s two-run single as the Catamounts took a 7-1 lead.

Samford got a pair of homers in the sixth to stop the bleeding, with Heath Quinn launching his league-leading 21st of the year and Lee following one out later with his second of the night and 11th of the season. The Bulldogs added another run in the seventh on T.J. Dixon’s RBI groundout, but that was as close as they would get.

In addition to another solid offensive effort, Western Carolina – which has averaged 9.8 runs per game in the tournament – got some solid defense in Saturday night’s contest. With Samford threatening with two on and two out in the fifth, left fielder Ferrell threw out Dixon at the plate trying to score on a Hunter Swilling single. Two innings later, right fielder Bryce Bowman made a nice sliding grab of Swilling’s line drive to end the inning. Second baseman Long made a sensational play to end the first inning, as well, laying out to his left to snag Quinn’s grounder just beyond the infield dirt to throw him out at first.

Western Carolina redshirt junior Dillon Bray (2-4) turned in a solid effort to earn the win, allowing three runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings, striking out seven. Korey Anderson, who threw two innings against Mercer earlier in the day, went the final three innings to earn the first save of his career. He allowed just three hits and struck out four, including the side in the eighth.

Jake Greer, Samford’s second pitcher of the day, took the loss, falling to 3-2 after allowing five runs (four earned) on three hits and three walks in 1 1/3 innings. Josh Rich, making his first start of the season after 25 relief appearances, gave the Bulldogs three innings, allowing just one run on three hits and a pair of walks.

Ferrell finished 4-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored in the contest, while Bermudez had the Catamounts’ only other multi-hit performance with two base knocks.

Lee finished 3-for-4 with a pair of solo homers for the Bulldogs, who also got two hits each from Danny Rodriguez and Richard Greene.

Quinn, whose solo homer was his final hit of the season, finished his junior campaign with 77 RBIs, leading the league in that category.

May 24 (Tuesday)
SoCon Championship (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 1: #8 The Citadel 3, #9 VMI 2 (10 innings)

May 25 (Wednesday)
SoCon Championship (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 2: #4 Furman 3, #5 ETSU 0
Game 3: #1 Mercer 13, #8 The Citadel 1 (7 innings)
Game 4: #2 Western Carolina 10, #7 Wofford 9
Game 5: #6 Samford 8, #3 UNCG 5

May 26 (Thursday)
SoCon Championship (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 6: #5 ETSU 4, #8 The Citadel 2
Game 7: #3 UNCG 9, #7 Wofford 6
Game 8: #1 Mercer 6, #4 Furman 1
Game 9: #2 Western Carolina 14, #6 Samford 4

May 27 (Friday)
SoCon Championship (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 10: #6 Samford 12, #5 ETSU 11 (10 innings)
Game 11: #4 Furman 15, #3 UNCG 10

May 28 (Saturday)
SoCon Championship (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 12: #1 Mercer 9, #2 Western Carolina 8
Game 13: #6 Samford 2, #4 Furman 0
Game 14: #2 Western Carolina 7, #6 Samford 4

May 29 (Sunday)
SoCon Championship (ESPN3)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 15: #1 Mercer vs. #2 Western Carolina 1 p.m.
^Game 16: Winner Game 15 vs. Loser Game 15 60 minutes after Game 15

^ if necessary

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