Baseball Falls to Georgia Tech in the Late Innings

STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team dropped their first game of the new year in a seesaw affair to #10 Georgia Tech on Wednesday. A stadium record 3,258 fans came out to J.I. Clements Stadium in the first mid-week contest of the year, but they went home disappointed after the Eagles fell 11-9.

A three-run home run off the bat of Georgia Tech's (4-1) Zane Evans in the top of the eighth inning broke open an 8-8 tie and handed Yellow Jacket reliever, Josh Heddinger, his first win of the season. The freshman pitched a scoreless seventh inning, retiring the three batters he faced.

Georgia Southern's (3-1) Chris Myers (Gainesville, Fla.) was tagged with the loss after Georgia Tech took the lead for good in the top of the eighth. Myers allowed two runs on a walk and two free passes in his two innings out of the bullpen.

The bats, despite being held to three hits through five innings, kept the Eagles in the game and tallied eight hits and 10 walks. Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) drove in four of the nine runs on two hits and plated a runner in three of his last four plate appearances.

Georgia Southern held an early 1-0 lead, and starter Justin Hess (Panama City, Fla.) worked around two-out base runners in the first two innings to keep Georgia Tech scoreless. Hess was unable to get the early outs in the third inning and was hurt by a three-run homer from Brandon Thomas.

The Eagles retook a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Phillips and a two-RBI single off the bat of Ben Morgan (Evans, Ga.).  Georgia Tech rallied an inning later, scoring five runs on five hits. A walk and a double from Mott Hyde scored the opening run and Jake Davis put the Yellow Jackets back on top 8-5 with an RBI double to center.

Georgia Southern tied the game at 8-8 with three runs in the sixth inning on back-to-back two-out doubles from Phillips and T.D. Davis (Evans, Ga.). A single by Williams and a walk of Burruss set up the inning before the two-out work from the senior captain brought in two runs. The Eagles managed a run in the bottom of the eighth but were unable to make up the three-run deficit.

The game can also 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 Wednesday, 22 February 2012 22:46