The College of Charleston belted a school-record eight homers, including three by Cole Rakar (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) in a 18-4 win over Furman in the opener of a Southern Conference doubleheader before 233 at Patriots Point Stadium on Saturday. Brian Harrison's three-run homer in the eighth lifted Furman to a 10-9 win in the second game.

With the split, Charleston's record stands at 18-5 overall and 9-2 in league play. The Paladins are 10-12 and 4-7. The series finale is Sunday at 1 p.m.

In the opener, Rakar, who tied the school record for most homers a game, hit two-run homers in the second, third and fifth innings. Ryan Daniels (Victoria, Tex.) hit a two-run homer in the first to give Charleston a 2-0 lead. Brandon Sizemore's (Jacksonville, Fla.) three-run shot to left in the second gave the Cougars a 7-0 lead.

In Charleston's four-run sixth inning, Joash Brodin (Olympia, Wash.) hit a two-run homer and Matt Mansilla (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Austin Morgan (Katy, Tex.) hit back-to-back homers that stretched Charleston's lead to 17-3.

Jesse Simpson (Baton Rouge, La.) earned the win and improved to 5-1. Simpson allowed three runs on seven hits over seven innings. Jay Friedman (0-2) suffered the loss surrendering seven runs on six hits over the first two innings.

In the second game, Furman erased a 7-3 deficit in the fifth inning en route to the win. Justin Holloway's first homer of the season was a two-out, grand slam to right center in the fifth that tied the game at 7-all. Harrison belted an 0-1 pitch to left for a three-run homer, his fourth of the season, and a 10-7 Furman advantage.

Hutson Dodds (Charleston, S.C.) and Joey Bergman (Jacksonville, Fla.) hit solo homers in the eighth that cut Furman's lead to 10-9.

Barry Benton (2-3) picked up the win in relief allowing two runs on four hits over 3 2/3 innings of work. Spencer Hale recorded the final four outs for his first save of the season. Aaron Bouronich (Summerville, S.C.) suffered the loss in relief and fell to 3-1.

For the day, Bergman finished 7-for-8 with four doubles, a homer, six runs and two RBI.  Morgan went 3-for-5 with a homer and Rakar went 4-for-9 with three homers, three runs and six RBI.

It was the fourth time in school history a Cougar has belted three homers in a game ... current head coach Monte Lee hit three at South Carolina on Feb. 6, 1999 (USC 5-4) ... Lee Curtis hit three at VMI on May 12, 2002 (CofC 15-5) and Michael Harrington hit three vs. Elon on April 18, 2008 (Elon 15-14) ...

The old team record was six homers in a game on two occassions ... the last, in a 28-14 win over George Mason on Feb. 23, 2008 ...