Eagles Salvage a Win on Sunday Against Samford

STATESBORO, Ga. - In the third one-run game of the series, the Georgia Southern Baseball team finally came out on top with a 3-2 victory on Sunday afternoon at J.I. Clements Stadium. In a tie ball game, the Eagles struck for the winning run in their final inning at the plate to avoid the series sweep.

Georgia Southern (26-23, 12-12) got a lead off walk from Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.) to start the eighth inning and cashed in the free pass from Michael Gunter in the next at-bat. Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) followed with a double into the left field corner to drive in the winning run. Three pitchers later with the bases loaded, C.K. Irby coaxed a fly out to prevent any further damage.

In the top of the ninth inning, Kyle Rowe (Valdosta, Ga.) retired the side in order to pick up his team-best sixth win of the season. Rowe (6-1) delivered two scoreless innings to close out the game and worked around a pair of hits in the eighth inning. Gunter (1-2) took the loss for Samford (32-17, 18-9) after giving up the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth.

Both starting pitchers bounced back after struggling in their starts last week and both left the game with a no decision in a 2-2 tie. Will Middour (Atlanta, Ga.) shut down Samford over the first three innings  but allowed two runs on six hits and struck out four batters over five innings. Kyle Putkonen recorded a similar line over his five innings of work and allowed two early runs on six hits.

The Eagles struck for single runs off of Putkonen in the second and third innings. T.D. Davis (Evans, Ga.) provided a two-out RBI single in the second inning to drive in a lead off base hit from Chase Griffin (Leesburg, Ga.). Phillips used his first of three hits in the third inning to score Scooter Williams (Detroit, Mich.) from third base.

The three-hit day pulled Phillips to within four hits of tying the school record of 326 career hits set by Scott Henley. The senior co-captain now has 322 hits in his career after going eight-for-12 in the three-game series.

Trailing by two runs after the third inning, the Bulldogs scored single runs in back-to-back innings. Middour recorded two quick outs to start the fourth inning but gave up three straight hits. A base hit from Brandon Miller plated a two-out double by Phillip Ervin. Samford tried to add a second run on a double by Irby, but Miller was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.

Pitching in relief, Josh Stevenson (Social Circle, Ga.) faced the minimum over the next two innings to slow the Bulldogs' offensive momentum. Stevenson allowed one hit in the sixth inning, but Brent Pugh (Atlanta, Ga.) was able to turn a double play to end the inning.

Georgia Southern will have a week off for finals before closing out the home slate with a three-game series against Western Carolina.

All baseball games this season can be heard on the Boomer 103.7 FM and inside J.I. Clements Stadium on 88.1 FM. Audio for all games is also available on the web and subscription video is available for all home games at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/Eaglevision.

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Category: Baseball

Published on Sunday, 06 May 2012 17:04