GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Three Citadel pitchers combined to yield just four hits and the Bulldogs pushed across the game's only run in the sixth inning to post a 1-0 victory over Furman in the final regular season contest of the 2015 season Saturday afternoon at Latham Stadium.

The victory earned the series win for The Citadel (25-28, 10-14 SoCon), which will take the No. 8 seed into next week's Southern Conference Tournament where it will face No. 9 seed East Tennessee State in Tuesday's single elimination play-in game.

Furman (24-31, 11-13 SoCon) finished the regular season tied for sixth with Western Carolina, but the Paladins claimed the tiebreaker and SoCon Tournament No. 6 seed by virtue of a series victory over the Catamounts in Cullowhee in mid-April.  Furman will face No. 3 seed Wofford next Wednesday in a 12:30 p.m. clash.

Saturday's result made it three straight one-run games in the series between the two oldest SoCon baseball rivals.  The contest's lone run came in the sixth on a Connor Walsh groundout that scored William Kinney, who singled to start the frame before advancing to third on an Austin Mapes double.

The tally made a winner out of Bulldog starter Thomas Byelick (3-3), who worked five innings of shutout ball, allowing only two hits and three walks while striking out a pair.

He was relieved by Kevin Connell, who tossed 2 2/3 innings of one-hit ball with a strikeout.  Skylar Hunter, who entered the game with two on and two out in the eighth, walked Ryan Morse to load the bases but bounced back to get Griffin Davis on a fly ball to end the inning.

Hunter surrendered a two-out hit in the ninth before ending it on a fielder's choice groundout to notch his 12th save of the season.

Furman starting pitcher Will Gaddis (3-6) took the loss but pitched very effectively, yielding just four hits and a run over six innings.  He fanned two.  Brandon Elmy and Will Dvorak combined to throw three innings of shutout, one-hit relief for the Paladins.

Furman got a leadoff double in the fourth from Davis but stranded him there.

Carter Grote had two of Furman's four hits, which tied a season low.  The shutout was the first suffered by the Paladins this year.

Kinney registered two of  the Bulldogs' five hits.

Hunter Reid, Furman Sports Information