CULLOWHEE, N.C. -- B.J. Nobles hurled seven strong innings and got solid run support from the middle of his lineup as Western Carolina cruised past Furman, 14-4, in the opener of a three-game Southern Conference baseball series Friday evening at Hennon Stadium.

The two teams will play a Saturday doubleheader beginning at 11:00 a.m.

Nobles (4-1), a sophomore right-hander, surrendered only four hits and worked around six walks with the help of seven strikeouts in helping the Catamounts (16-17, 8-5 SoCon) snap a three-game losing skid and three-game series streak to the Paladins (16-20, 5-8 SoCon).

Western Carolina's 3-thru-6 hitters registered nine of the Catamounts 14 hits and seven of the 14 runs.  Matt Smith led the way, going 3-for-5 while Brett Pope drove in three runs.  Danny Bermudez had two hits and scored three runs, and Ferrell Kramer also collected a pair of hits and tallied two runs.  Jason Smith belted a three-run home run, and Bradley Strong rounded out the balanced attack, doubling twice while crossing the plate three times.

Furman finished with eight hits, led by Sims Griffith's 2-for-4 performance.  Ryan Morse hit his fourth home of the season, a two-run shot, in the eighth.

Western Carolina took advantage of Furman error to push across a pair of unearned runs in the first inning.  RBI singles by Pole and Burmudez off Paladin starting pitching Matt Solter staked the Catamounts to a 2-0 lead.

WCU made it 3-0 in the second after Strong doubled with one out and came around to score on a Matt Smith single.

It remained 3-0 until the sixth when Western Carolina combined six hits with two walks and a wild pitch to score nine runs and blow the game open.  The frame's big blow came on Jason Smith's three-run home run to center field off Paladin relief pitcher Harry Norman.

Furman got on the board with a bases loaded walk in the seventh and added three more in the eighth on an Andrew MacLatchie RBI double and Ryan Morse two-run home run.

Solter (2-3) was charged with the loss after yielding seven runs on nine hits over 5 1/3 innings.  He walked four and struck out five.