Baseball Drops Series Opener to Appalachian State

STATESBORO, Ga. - Behind a quality start from Ryan Arrowood, #27 Appalachian State snapped the Georgia Southern Baseball team's seven-game win streak with a 5-1 victory in the series opener Friday night at J.I. Clements Stadium. The loss was the first the Eagles suffered in the month of April.

Arrowood (6-0) walked five batters including two in the third inning that led to Georgia Southern's (20-16, 8-8) only run of the game, but he settled down to limit the Eagles to just one run on six hits over seven innings. The senior pitcher also struck out seven batters, including four in the third and fourth innings combined, to remain perfect on the year.

Appalachian State (25-7, 10-3) struck for three runs in the first inning after Chris Beck (Jefferson, Ga.) struggled with his location. Walks to both Daniel Kassouf and Jeremy Dowdy loaded the bases and plated the first run of the game for the  Mountaineers. Trey Holmes followed with a two-RBI single to drive in two more runs, putting ASU up 3-0. The junior right-hander also gave up two singles after retiring the leadoff batter, Hector Crespo, to put the first two runners on base.

After being handed the early lead, Arrowood retired the side in order before getting into a bases-loaded jam in the second inning. Chase Griffin (Leesburg, Ga.) doubled to lead off the inning and moved to third base after a one-out single from T.D. Davis (Evans, Ga.). Casey Kicklighter (Jesup, Ga.) drew a walk to load the bases, but the senior right-hander got out of the inning with a double play.

Beck (4-3) had struggled in his career against Appalachian State, but battled after the early runs to keep the Eagles within striking distance after allowing four runs on seven hits and five walks over six innings. The junior right-hander faced the minimum in an inning just twice but held the Mountaineers scoreless in his final three innings on the mound.

The two teams traded a single run in the third inning before both pitching staffs settled down for five scoreless innings. Daniel Kassouf struck for Appalachian State's fourth two-out run of the game in the top half of the third inning with a solo homer off the left field foul pole, but the Eagles got the run back in the bottom half of the inning on a bunt single by Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.).

The Mountaineers got back on the scoreboard after being held scoreless for five innings with a RBI single off the bat of Will Callaway. Stryker Brown (Dalton, Ga.) came up quickly with the throw and delivered the ball to the plate in advance of the runner Crespo, but he was called safe at the plate. Georgia Southern was unable to spark a ninth inning rally off of Nathan Hyatt after Davis reached base to open the frame on a wild pitch. Hyatt struck out all four batters he faced in the frame to close the book on the Eagles.

The two teams will continue the series following tomorrow's Blue White spring game with first pitch set for 6 p.m. The final game of the three-game series is set for 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

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.

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, 13 April 2012 22:13