Mt. Pleasant, S.C. – Furman plated four runs in the top of the seventh inning in game two to rally past College of Charleston, 11-9, and earn a doubleheader split on Tuesday evening at Patriots Point Athletics Complex. The Cougars picked up a 1-0 victory in game one.
Trailing 8-4 after four innings, senior
Tess Griswold ignited Furman's rally with a three-run home run in the top of the fifth to trim the CofC lead to 8-7. After CofC doubled the lead with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth, Furman mounted one last rally in the seventh.
Natalie Morgan was hit by a pitch, Griswold singled and
Emily Bartlett was plunked to load the bases with one out.
Caroline Nageotte was hit by a Carli McCants pitch to force in the first run and
Morgan Smith drew a bases loaded walk to tie the contest. Bartlett swiped home to put Furman in front before
Marina Griffin delivered a two-out, RBI single to increase the margin to 11-9.
In the bottom of the seventh, sophomore
Bailey Tanner (1-5) worked around a leadoff walk to retire the next three batters and earn her first victory as a Paladin. She allowed just two earned runs in five innings of work while walking three and striking out two.
Griswold went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs. Nageotte drove in two runs and Bartlett, Griswold and Morgan scored two apiece.
The Cougars (5-9) scored two runs in each of the first two innings to take a 4-0 lead before Furman (2-12) answered with four runs of its own. In the bottom of the fourth, CofC took advantage of a Furman error and a two-run double by Noel Dominguez to score four runs, three of which were unearned.
Griffin drew a leadoff walk in the fifth and
Casey Bigham singled before Griswold launched her three-run homer to start the rally.
McCants (0-1) took the loss for CofC after allowing four runs on two hits, a walk and three hit batters in one and one-third innings of work. Alondra Vicary tripled twice and drove in four runs to lead the Cougar offense.
In the first game of the day, CofC's Drayton Siegling tossed a four-hit shutout to improve to 2-2 in the circle and lead the Cougars to a 1-0 victory.
Siegling worked around a bases loaded jam in the first and allowed just three hits the rest of the way while fanning three. The Cougars scored the only run of the game in the bottom of the fifth on back-to-back doubles from Brittany Vicary and Dominguez.
Tanner suffered the loss for Furman allowing just a run on five hits in six innings.
The Paladins return to action on Friday at Gardner-Webb's Red and Black Tournament in Boiling Springs, N.C. Furman faces N.C. Central at 10 a.m. before battling Harvard at noon.
