JOHNSON CITY, TENN. -- Lee Haeberle pitched eight innings of strong baseball to lift East Tennessee State to a 6-3 victory over Furman on Saturday in the second game of a three-game Southern Conference series at Thomas Stadium.

Sunday's 1:00 p.m. finale will decide the series winner with freshman right-hander Jake Crawford slated to take the hill for Furman (11-15, 3-2 SoCon).

Haeberle (3-0) allowed three runs, only two of which were earned, on four hits and four walks over eight-plus innings of work to collect the win.  He struck out five and pitched into the ninth, when he allowed a walk and a double before being relieved by Peyton Taylor, who secured the final three outs to nail down the win for ETSU (13-13, 2-3 SoCon).

The Bucs took advantage of two hit batsmen, a walk, and a hit to grab a 4-0 lead in the third inning against Furman starting and losing pitcher Matthew Quarles (3-2).  After a sacrifice fly and RBI grounder staked Bucs to a 2-0 advantage, Kevin Phillips' two-run double to left center field stretched the lead to 4-0.

ETSU made it 5-0 an inning later on a Blake Rowlett RBI single.

Furman got on the board with a run in the sixth after Carter Grote led off with a double and scored on two ETSU throwing errors on the same play.

A Lance Mays solo home run in the seventh made it a 6-1 game, and it remained that way until the ninth when Haeberle walked Cameron Whitehead and yielded a double to Brandon Elmy, leading to his exit.  Haberle's replacement, Peyton Taylor, struck out the first two batters he faced but Landon Kay's two-out, two-run double to left field got Furman to within 6-3.  Sky Overton kept the inning alive with an infield single, but Taylor bounced back to retire Matt Towarnicky on a grounder to end the game.

The Bucs out-hit Furman 8-6, with Robby McCabe's 3-for-4 performance leading the way.  He doubled, drove in a run, and scored once.

Grote had two hits and a walk for the Paladins.

Hunter Reid, Furman Sports Information