GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Logan Kanuik pitched three shutout innings of relief and for the second consecutive game Virginia Commonwealth withstood a furious Furman comeback to down the Paladins, 8-7, in baseball action Saturday afternoon at Latham Stadium.

VCU (5-1), which saw Furman (3-3) rally from a 7-1 deficit with eight consecutive runs in an eventual 14-9 Rams' win in Friday's series opener, will go for the series sweep in Sunday's 1:00 p.m. contest.

Kanuik (2-0) entered the game in the sixth inning with the score tied 6-6 and proceeded to tame Furman's bats, yielding only one hit while striking out five to earn the win.  His effective work helped set the stage for the Rams, who tallied single runs in the seventh and eighth inning to take an 8-6 lead.

The two runs proved decisive as Furman threatened in the ninth on Greg Harrison's one-out solo home run off Kanuik's replacement, Matt Lees, that made it a one-run game.  Chris Ohmstede followed with a solid single to left field but Lees recovered by inducing Alex Abrams to bounce into a game ending double play.

VCU grabbed a 5-0 lead the first inning against Abrams, taking advantage of five hits, two hit batsmen, and a walk to assume command before Rams' starting pitcher Seth Greene threw a pitch.

Greene hurled shutout ball over the first three innings before running head-long into trouble in the fourth.  Griffin Davis' two-run double to right center field highlighted a six-run outburst by the Paladins, who combined five hits with three VCU errors to take a 6-5 lead.

Abrams recovered from the rocky first inning to post three scoreless frames, and he recorded a pair of outs in the fifth before giving way to Harry Norman, who gave up a two-out, RBI single to Logan Farrar that tied the game at 6-6.

The Rams broke the deadlock with an unearned run in the seventh. Paladin reliever Ryan Morse walked two of the first three batters he faced and then saw the Rams load the bases after a Paladin error.  He struck out VCU's Trevor Marino for the second out and battled the Rams' Chris Ayers with a nine-pitch at-bat before Ayers' bounding ground ball at Paladin second baseman Jordan Simpson was misplayed, allowing Vimael Machin to score the go-ahead run.

VCU added another run in the eighth on a wild pitch for an 8-6 advantage.

James Bunn led the Rams' 13-hit attack with a 4-for-5 performance at the plate, and Bill Cullen went 3-for-5 with two-RBI and two runs scored.

Chris Ohmstede's 3-for-4 afternoon paced Furman, which banged out 12 hits.  Hunter Burton and Cameron Whitehead joined Harrison and Simpson in collecting two hits apiece for the Paladins.

Morse (1-1) was charged with the loss after allowing two runs, only one of which was earned, on four hits over four innings.  He walked three and struck out one.