GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Jordan Starkes drilled a one-out single thru the left side of the infield to drive home David Webel from second base in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Furman an 8-7 victory over Mercer in Southern Conference baseball action Friday afternoon at Latham Stadium.

The win squares the series between the Paladins (24-29, 12-11 SoCon) and Bears (29-25, 14-9 SoCon) heading into Saturday's regular season finale for both teams.

Starkes' game winning hit came after Webel roped a leadoff double into left center field.  With one out Dax Roper was walked intentionally, and Starkes slammed the first pitch he saw from Mercer reliever Scott Smith into left field to drive home Webel ahead of a wide throw to the plate.

Furman trailed 7-6 in the ninth when John Michael Boswell greeted Mercer's seventh pitcher of the game, Holton McGaha, with a leadoff, ground rule double to right field.  With one out, Mercer shortstop RJ Yeager misplayed a ground ball as he positioned to make a throw to third base ahead of Paladin pinch runner Zach Ahearn.  Banks Griffith followed with a sacrifice bunt that McGaha fielded and threw to first base for the out.  The return throw home arrived ahead of Ahearn, who was initially called out before being ruled safe after Mercer catcher Leyton Pinckney dropped the ball.

Paladin reliever Rob Hughes (4-1), Starkes' prep teammate at Northwestern (S.C.) High School, worked around a one-out walk in the 10th to complete a solid relief performance that saw him hurl the final 3 1/3 innings to collect the victory.  The Paladin freshman right-hander came on to close out a disasterous seventh inning that saw Mercer tally five runs to take a 7-6 lead.  In the eighth he yielded a pair of singles and a walk to load the bases, but escaped by retiring Kyle Dockus on an infield fly.

Furman led 6-2 behind starting pitcher David Dunlavey when the game was interrupted in the bottom of the fifth inning due to lightning 10 miles away.  Following a one hour and 25-minute delay that featured near total sunshine, Mercer began their comeback against Furman's bullpen, tagging Nik Verbeke for three runs in the five-run seventh, and his replacement, Eric Taylor, for two more.  Kel Johnson's two-run double to right center field tied the game at 6-6, and Collin Price's single plated Johnson to give the Bears a 7-6 lead.

Dunlavey retired the final seven batters he faced prior to the delay.  He allowed two runs on just two hits, walked two, and struck out five.

Furman roughed up Mercer starting pitcher Kevin Coulter for five runs, four earned, on seven hits over the first three innings.

Jabari Richards' two-run single highlighted a five-run second inning that gave the Paladins a 5-1 lead.

Logan Taplett sprinted home on a wild pitch in the fifth to give Furman a 6-2 lead.

Furman, which out-hit Mercer 13-11, was paced at the plate by Webel's 3-for-5 performance.  Taplett, Trent Alley, and Bret Huebner registered two hits apiece.

Mercer committed a season high six errors that led to three unearned runs.

The loss was charged to Smith (4-3), who got the final out in the ninth but yielded the winning run in the 10th.