GREENVILLE, S.C. - Connor Walsh led off the top of the 10th with a solo homer to give The Citadel the lead, and Clay Martin made a running catch in deep right center in the bottom of the inning to seal a 5-4 victory over Furman in the opening game of the final Southern Conference series of the season.

The Bulldogs (24-27, 9-13 SoCon) need to win the remaining two games against the Paladins (23-30, 10-12) to avoid playing in Tuesday's opening round of the conference tournament at Riley Park. The Citadel has won six of its past seven SoCon games.

Freshman southpaw JP Sears (5-4, 4.23 ERA) will pitch for the Bulldogs on Saturday, and sophomore righty Matthew Quarles (5-2, 5.01) will toe the slab for the Paladins.

Walsh homered for the fourth time in the past five games when he launched a 2-2 pitch from Elliott Warford over the fence in left center, only the second home run allowed in 44 innings this season by the Furman closer. The homer was Walsh's eighth of the season and seventh in SoCon play.

With Bulldog closer Skylar Hunter on the mound in the bottom of the 10th, Chris Ohmstede singled with one out and advanced to third on a wild pitch and ground out. Jake Jones then drove a long fly ball that Martin, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in the eighth, ran down on the warning track.

The Bulldogs jumped out to quick 4-0 lead on a first inning grand slam by Drew Ellis off Matt Solter. The Paladins answered with three in the second off James Reeves and tied it in the fifth on an RBI single by Griffin Davis.

The home run was Ellis' 10th of the year and fourth in the past five games. He became the first Citadel freshman with double figure home runs since Richard Jones slammed 15 in 2007.

It stayed a 4-4 game over the next four innings despite both teams having solid scoring threats. The Citadel put the first two men on in the sixth, loaded the bases with one out in the eighth and had runners at the corners with one out in the ninth but was unable to break the tie.

Furman had golden opportunities to take the lead in the seventh and eighth. Zach Lavery got two key outs in the seventh to strand a runner at third, and Johnathan Stokes made a diving catch of a line drive by Cameron Whitehead and stepped on second to complete an unassisted double play in the eighth.

Reeves took a no-decision, allowing six hits and all four runs (three earned) with three walks and four strikeouts in six innings. Hunter worked the final 2 2/3 innings and picked up his third win of the season, surrendering one hit while striking out three. Austin Mapes singled in the ninth to extend his hitting streak to 11, tied with Walsh for the longest by a Bulldog this season.

Solter shook off the Ellis home run to go eight strong innings, allowing only four hits over his final seven frames and struck out seven in the contest.