GREENVILLE, S.C. - In a game which saw big hits on both sides, it was Furman's Cameron Whitehead who had the decisive one, lining a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the seventh to give the Paladins a 9-8 win over The Citadel in the middle game of the final Southern Conference series of the year.

The loss means the Bulldogs (24-28, 9-14 SoCon) will play East Tennessee State in the opening round of the SoCon Tournament on Tuesday at 10 a.m. at Riley Park. Furman improved to 24-30 and 11-12 and can still finish as high as fifth in the regular season standings.

The rubber game of the series takes place on Saturday at 1 p.m. when freshman right-hander Thomas Byelick (2-3, 5.30 ERA) will face Paladin first-year righty Will Gaddis (3-5, 5.33).

The Citadel fell behind 4-0 in the first inning, battled back to take a 7-4 lead with five in the fifth and went ahead for the final time in the top of the seventh when Stephen Windham's slow tapper to second with the infield in chased home Austin Mapes to give the Bulldogs an 8-7 lead.

Mapes had led off the inning with an infield bloop single, his third hit of the game, and he extended his hitting streak to 12, the longest by a Bulldog this season. Mapes scored two runs and drove in two.

The Paladins bounced back in their half of the seventh against Austin Mason. Chris Ohmstede singled and Jordan Simpson belted a ground rule double, but it Mason had a chance to wriggle off the hook when he struck out Brandon Elmy and Landon Kay. But Whitehead lined a single to the right of second baseman Jacob Watcher to drive in what proved to be the game-winning runs.

The Citadel had a chance to force extra innings against closer Elliott Warford in the ninth. Johnathan Stokes reached on a throwing error by shortstop Sims Griffith and went to third on a wild pitch and ground out to second. After Windham was hit by a pitch, Warford struck out Drew Ellis and Griffith atoned for his error by chasing down a pop up by Clay Martin in shallow left to end the game.

Warford picked up his sixth save of the season, working the final 1 2/3 innings of hitless ball with two strikeouts. Ryan Griffith allowed one hit and one run in 2 1/3 innings and was credited with the win. Mason took the loss for the Bulldogs.

The Citadel starter JP Sears allowed four hits and four runs in the first but settled down and gave up only three hits and one run over his final 3 1/3 frames. That allowed the Bulldogs to rally beginning with an RBI single by Mapes in the third and solo homer by Ellis an inning later, the freshman's 11th of the season and fifth in the last six games.

The Bulldogs then erupted for five runs in the fifth, the last four coming with two outs. Walsh grounded a single to right to give The Citadel a 5-4 lead, and Windham followed with a two-run homer to left, his third of the season, to make it a three-run game. Walsh increased his team-leading RBI total to 56.

Furman pulled within one with a two-run bottom of the fifth including an RBI single by Jordan Simpson that extended his hitting streak to 16. Jake Jones produced a two-out double in the sixth following a Bulldog error that tied it at 7.