ASU hosts first-place Furman
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

Much has changed in the Southern Conference standings since the last time Appalachian State played its last game.

That game, a 26-10 pasting of Elon, took place eight days ago. The one thing that stayed the same is that Elon is still in second place in the conference standings.

The team on top has changed. Elon was mere percentage points behind College of Charleston. Following last weekend’s games, Charleston, swept by UNC Greensboro, fell to fourth.

Now the team in first place is Furman, which has won 12 straight SoCon games, sweeping Charleston, Wofford, Western Carolina and most recently, Davidson. Before those games, Furman won two out of three from UNC Greensboro.

The Paladins (29-16, 15-6) lost Tuesday to Charleston Southern, which broke a six-game winning streak.

They play an Appalachian State team that took two out of three from Elon and swept Davidson the weekend before.

The first game is Friday, beginning at 7 p.m. The second game is Saturday night at 7, while game three is Sunday at 1 p.m.

All three games are at Smith Stadium.

Appalachian State, since getting swept by College of Charleston, has won at least two games in its last four conference series. They’ve also taken two out of three from Georgia Southern and two out of three from Western Carolina.

“We knew that the first part of our schedule would be tough and then it would be tough when we played Elon and Furman,” Mountaineers coach Chris Pollard said. “You have to give Furman a lot of credit. They’ve pitched well, which has been key for them. It will be a fun kind of challenge for us.”

Furman ace Jay Jackson sports an ERA of 2.59, has a 9-1 record and has 76 strikeouts in 71 innings. Jackson’s fastball is around 90 miles per hour, according to Pollard, and opponents are hitting just .211 against him.

“Jay Jackson is throwing as well as anybody in the conference,” Pollard said. “He’s the odds-on favorite to be the pitcher of the year in our conference by the way he throws the ball. His velocity is up to the mid-90s and he’s also got a good slider.”

Appalachian State’s offense collected 29 hits in its 26-10 win over Elon in game three of that series. Of those 29 hits, 26 were singles. They’ll need to make contact similar to that if they want to get on base against Jackson.

“I think that was one of those moments that teams experience in baseball when everything we hit found a hole,” Pollard said. “We hit 26 singles in 29 hits and that’s hard to do, so we had a lot of good fortune. At the same time, you have to give a lot of credit to our hitters. They stuck to their game plan.”

Appalachian State will counter with Matt Andress, who was solid in the Mountaineers’ 9-3 win over Elon in game two last week. Travis Dowdy will start the second game against Furman, and Aubrey Edens is the starter for game three.