Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader Against Davidson

DAVIDSON, N.C. - Behind two quality starts on the mound, the Georgia Southern Baseball team swept the first two games in the three-game set with the Davidson Wildcats on Friday. The Eagles took the doubleheader after breaking open a 3-3 tie in game one and rallied in the ninth in game two.

Game One

The Georgia Southern Baseball team picked up a hard fought 8-3 win in game one of Friday's doubleheader behind Chris Beck's first nine-inning complete game since the Southern Conference Tournament Championship Game against Samford last season. The Eagles picked up an early lead but had to break two ties to earn their sixth SoCon victory.

Beck (4-2) tossed his seventh quality start of the season for Georgia Southern (16-15, 6-7) en route to his 15th career victory. The Jefferson, Ga., native completed his second game of the season after allowing three runs on eight hits. He also struck out nine batters including eight from the fourth inning on.

Ryan Overcash gave Davidson (11-16, 3-10) eight solid innings and helped save the bullpen for the rest of the series. Overcash (2-5) gave up four earned runs on nine hits in those eight frames and struck out two batters. Matt Saeta tossed the final frame but gave up two runs on a pair of hits which expanded the Eagles' lead to five runs.

GSU took the lead for good with their fourth run of the game in the sixth inning. Hunter Thomas (Johns Creek, Ga.) reached base on an error by the third baseman to open the frame and came around to score from second base on a second error. Ben Morgan (Evans, Ga.) bunted Thomas to second base before Scooter Williams (Detroit, Mich.) hit a ball to left side of the infield that was misplayed by the first baseman and allowed Thomas to score.

The Eagles added four more runs in the final two frames to secure the victory. Back-to-back two-out hits from Morgan and Williams pushed a run across in the eighth inning before three hits and two errors scored three more runs in the ninth inning. Burruss opened the frame with a double and scored two batters later on a two-out triple by Stryker Brown (Dalton, Ga.), who scored on the play thanks to an error by the right fielder. T.D. Davis (Evans, Ga.) made the error a mute point after sending a ball over the center field fence for his fourth home run of the season.

Georgia Southern jumped ahead early with a pair of first inning runs. Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.) picked up the first base hit of the game with one out and came around to score on an errant throw by the third baseman on a fielder's choice. Brown plated the second run of the frame with a RBI single through the right side of the infield.

Davidson tied the game at 2-2 after opening the third inning with four-straight hits. David Daniels led off the frame with a base hit off the glove of Beck and scored two batters later on a Jake Berman base hit to right field. The Eagles got two quick outs on a double play but allowed the tying run in Calvin Singelbaum to score.

GSU retook the lead in the fourth inning after a one-out walk of Thomas crossed the plate on a single through the left side of the infield by Burruss. However, the Wildcats quickly tied the ball game at 3-3 with a two-out home run by Jake Berman over the wall in left field.

Game Two

The Eagles had to go to the ninth inning to secure their second win of the series. Both teams featured great starting pitching in the game. Georgia Southern led early but had to rally after the Wildcats took a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning.

Justin Hess (Panama City, Fla.) struck out a career-best 12 batters including the side in the fifth inning to get out of a bases loaded jam. The junior surpassed his previous high of seven punch outs set last season at Charleston Southern after striking out multiple batters in all but the third inning. Hess allowed just one unearned run on five hits in his second-straight quality start of the season but left with a no decision.

Henry Sisson tossed eight quality innings in his fourth start of the season and allowed two runs on three hits. The freshman struck out a career-high nine batters but walked four in the no decision. Clark Beeker (2-2) took the loss after giving up four runs on three hits in the ninth inning.

Georgia Southern scored four runs in the final frame to retake a 6-3 lead. Burruss plated three of the runs with a triple to right field which tipped off the glove of a running Jake Berman in right field. Tyler Avera (Baxley, Ga.) drove in the tying run in pinch-runner Zac Lenns (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) with a base hit through the right side of the infield. Lenns ran for Davis, who led off the inning with a base knock.

Kyle Rowe (Valdosta, Ga.) (4-1) worked around a lead off walk in the bottom of the frame and picked up the win. Rowe recorded a fielder's choice, a strikeout and a fly out to end the inning. Rowe tossed 1.1scoreless innings in relief.

Georgia Southern took another early lead with two runs in the third inning. With two runners in scoring position, Williams drove in Avera from third base with a sacrifice fly to right field, and Burruss brought in the other with a single to the gap in left center.

Davidson got one of the two runs back in the bottom half of the frame on a RBI-double from Drew Gadaire. Forrest Brandt kept the inning alive, reaching on a two-out error by the shortstop before scoring on the Gadaire extra-base hit.

The Wildcats added two more runs in the seventh inning to take their first lead of the series. The first three batters to the plate all reached, but the Eagles' bullpen threatened to strand them after throwing out the lead runner on a sacrifice bunt attempt and recording a strikeout. However, pinch hitter Ben Arkin ended that thought with a base hit into right center. A second run crossed the plate a batter later after Phillips was unable to find the handle on a ground ball.

The three-game series concludes tomorrow at 2 p.m. Will Middour (Atlanta, Ga.) takes the mound tomorrow for his fourth start of the year. The brother of former Wildcat ace, Thomas Middour, has posted a 1-2 record with a 3.91 ERA on the season.

The games can be heard on the Boomer 103.7 FM and inside the 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.

Fans can follow their Eagles at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com or receive short updates at facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics or on Google+ at gplus.to/GSAthletics.

Category: Baseball

Published on Friday, 06 April 2012 22:31