GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Trent Alley homered and drove in four runs and Jabari Richards went 5-for-6 and plated three runs to power Furman past Morehead State, 16-11, in the first game of a Saturday doubleheader at Latham Stadium.
Furman (1-2) dropped game two, 6-5, with a two-run, ninth inning rally falling short in its bid for the twinbill sweep.
In the opener the Paladins bolted to a 9-0 lead after two innings, striking for seven in the first and two more in the second. Alley's two-run triple opened the scoring and Richards followed with a triple off the right field wall to drive home Alley. After a walk, John Michael Boswell cracked a three-run home run to left center field to highlight the seven-run outburst that came at the expense of Eagles' starting pitcher Garrett Rogers, who recorded only one out before being pulled.
The nine runs came in support of Paladin starting pitcher Matt Lazzaro, who cruised thru three innings before running into one-out trouble in the fourth when he surrendered a walk and four hits, including a grand slam to Dom Peroni that pulled Morehead State to within 9-5.
The Eagles tied the contest with a four-run sixth on the strength of a Connor Pauly three-run triple into the right field corner off Paladin reliever Andrew Holweger.
Richards broke the deadlock with one out in the sixth with his first home run of the season and 23rd career route job, a solo shot high over the right field wall, and Bret Huebner gave Furman an 11-9 lead with a bunt single that allowed Jared Mihalik to race home from third.
The Paladins added two more in the seventh and three in the eighth.
Freshman right-hander Rob Hughes worked a scoreless eighth and ninth, striking out a pair, to record his first collegiate save and make a winner of Jordan Beatson (1-1).
Furman's 16-run effort was supported by a 21-hit attack highlighted by Alley and Richards, who combined for nine hits, seven RBI, and six runs. Boswell went 3-for-4 and drove in four runs while freshman Banks Griffith registered a 3-for-5, two-RBI performance with a double. Dax Roper joined Alley, Richards, and Boswell in the Paladins' four-home parade.
The loss was charged to Jason Goe (1-1), who was roughed up for three runs on six hits in relief.
In Saturday's second game Morehead State's Chase Sortor homered twice in a 4-for-4, four-RBI performance to help the Eagles gain the doublheader split and series victory.
Morehead State took advantage of a second inning throwing error by Paladin starting pitcher David Dunlavey (0-1) to score a pair of unearned runs to grab a 3-0 lead.
Sortor led off the third with his first of two clouts to make it 4-0.
The Eagles led 5-3 in the eighth when Sortor struck again, with two outs, when he drilled a Jeremiah Garcia offering over the left field wall to push the advantage to 6-3.
Furman scored twice in the ninth on four hits, getting RBI singles from Griffith and Roper to pull within 6-5 witth runners on first and third, but MSU reliever Jake Ziegelmeyer retired Alley on a foul pop to first base to end the game.
Furman out-hit Morehead State 13-8 and got solid starting pitching from Will Lozniak (1-0), who allowed three runs, two of which were earned, on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings.
Zigelmeyer worked the final 3 1/3 frames to earn the save, yielding six hits and the two ninth inning runs. He didn't walk a batter and fanned six.
Alley, Griffith, Huebner and freshman Jordan Starkes had two hits apiece for the Paladins.