NASHVILLE, TENN. -- Kyle Egli's two-run third inning home run gave Belmont a lead it would never relinquish en route to a 9-5 victory over Furman in a rain-shortened Saturday afternoon baseball contest at E.S. Rose Park.

The win allowed Belmont (28-27) to avoid the series sweep by Furman (29-26), which clinched the three-game set and a winning season with Friday's 6-0 victory over the Bruins.

Furman will take the No. 4 seed into next week's Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases, where it will face No. 5 seed Wofford in a Wednesday, 9:00 a.m. first round matchup at Fluor Field in downtown Greenville.

With the Paladins up 4-3, Kyle Conger drew a leadoff walk in the third inning and with one out Egli took a pitch from Furman starter Matthew Quarles out of the ballpark to left field to give the Bruins a 4-3 lead.

Belmont made it 5-3 in the fifth on a Matt Cogen single that scored Conger.

Furman trailed 6-4 after seven but got within a run in the eighth after Sims Griffith led off with a double and scored on Jake Crawford's one-out single that caromed off second base.  Jon Michael Boswell, who had earlier walked, advanced to third on the play, but was left stranded after Cameron Whitehead struck out and Carter Grote fouled out.

The Bruins answered back by scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth before heavy rains called a halt to the contest.

Casey Queener (3-2) pitched five solid innings of relief to earn the victory, allowing one run on five hits and a walk.  He struck out five.

The loss was charged to Quarles (6-4), who worked 4 1/3 innings, surrendering five runs on six hits.  He walked four and fanned four.

Both teams finished with 10 hits, with Jason Costa, Grote, Griffith, and Crawford registering two-hit afternoons for the Paladins.