GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Jabari Richards and Logan Taplett belted late inning home runs to help Furman rally past Western Carolina, 9-7, in Southern Conference Baseball Tournament elimination game action Thursday morning at Fluor Field.

With the victory Furman (26-30), the tournament's No. 5 seed, advances to play the loser of Thursday's East Tennessee State vs. Wofford game on Friday at 7:00 p.m.

The loss ends the season for Western Carolina (21-32).

Furman, which built a 6-0 sixth inning lead, saw Western Carolina rally for seven unanswered runs and take a 7-6 lead on Will Prater's two-out, two-run single in the seventh.

The Paladins answered in the eighth with a leadoff single by Jared Mihalik and Richards' two-run home run — the 31st of his career — that traveled 386 feet over the right field wall to put Furman back in front, 8-7. 

Taplett added to Furman's advantage with a solo home run in the ninth over the Green Monster wall in left field.  The Paladins, who entered the game without a home run in their previous four games, banged out four route jobs to give them 52 on the season.

Western Carolina threatened in the ninth when Immanual Wilder drew a two-out walk and advanced to third on a Daylan Nanny single.  Paladin reliever Rob Hughes responded by retiring Justice Bigbie, the SoCon's 2019 Player of the Year, on a ground out to end the game.

Hughes (5-1), who came on in the seventh with two outs and two runners on base, and Furman leading 6-3, struggled to get out of the frame, surrendering three hits, a walk, and a wild pitch, as the Catamounts scored four times to take a 7-6, lead.

In the eighth Hughes retired the first two batters he faced before Western Carolina loaded the bases.  The freshman right-hander escaped the threat when David Webel hauled in a fly ball off the bat of Matthew Koehler in deep right center field.

Furman grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third inning on Webel's first career home run, a two-out, two-run crank over the Green Monster.

John Michael Boswell made it 3-0 an inning later on a 12-pitch at bat that ended when he deposited an offering by Catamount starter Ryan Mitchele high over the left field wall — his sixth of the season and first since Mar. 27 at Gardner-Webb.

The Paladins tacked on two more in the fifth and one in the sixth to stretch their advantage to 6-0 in support of starting pitcher David Dunlavey.  Dunlavey yielded his first run in a Luke Robinson triple in the sixth but battled back to get a pair of outs before back-to-back Furman fielding errors allowed Western Carolina to cut the lead to 6-3.

Both teams finished with 11 hits.  Leading the way for Furman were Webel, Boswell, Richards, and Banks Griffith with two hits apiece.

Andrew Bullock paced WCU with a 3-for-4 performance.

The loss was charged to Taylor Purus (5-5), who gave up the home runs to Richards and Taplett.

The win ended Furman's nine-game losing skid at Fluor Field, where the Paladins have played 80 games since the facility opened in 2006.

Hunter Reid, Sports Information