Baseball Opens 2013 Season at Home Against #29 Georgia

Video Preview with Coach Hennon

GAME INFORMATION
Dates: Feb. 15-17
Times: 6 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 1:30 pm
Site: Statesboro, Ga./J.I. Clements Stadium (3,000)
TV/Video Stream: gseagles.com/watch-listen
Play-by-Play: Ryan Chambers; Analyst: Kris Draper
Baseball Radio Network:
103.7 FM - WBMX - Metter/Statesboro
900 AM - WJLG - Savannah
1370 AM - WLOP - Jesup
Play-by-Play: Ryan Chambers; Analyst: Kris Draper
Game Notes: Georgia Southern / Georgia
Live Stats: gseagles.com
Twitter Updates: @GSAthletics / @GSScores
Series: Georgia leads, 49-38-1 (88 games)
   Statesboro: Georgia Southern leads, 15-14-1
   Athens: Georgia leads, 18-10
   Neutral Site: Georgia leads, 2-1
   Unknown: Georgia leads, 14-13 
   First Meeting: 1957 - W, 6-4
   Last Meeting: 3/15/2005 - W, 9-4
   Streak: Georgia Southern, 1 win

STORY LINES
Georgia Southern (0-0, 0-0 SoCon) opens its 67th season since the program was restarted in 1947 with a three-game weekend set against #29 Georgia (0-0, 0-0 SEC). The three games will be a blue out and all fans are encouraged to wear blue shirts to the game.

Friday will mark the 89th meeting all-time between the in-state schools and the first since a 9-4 Eagle win on March 15, 2005.

Single game tickets at the gate are $15 but if you wear a blue shirt to the game the price is discounted to $12.

The Georgia Southern Athletics Department will also be collecting Georgia gear at the gate in exchange for a GSU “Deny the Dogs” t-shirt.

After the game there will be a Fireworks display presented by 111 South, and before the game Dr. Brooks A. Keel will throw out the first pitch.

Seth Harp will broadcast his show, Harp on Sports, live from the concourse at J.I. Clements Stadium. The show will feature a number of Georgia Southern guests and will run from 3-6 p.m.

Georgia Southern maintains a 15-14-1 record against the Bulldogs at home.

The Eagles are coming off a 33-27 season in which they finished as a Southern Conference Tournament finalist.

Georgia Southern was picked to finish fifth in both the Coaches and Media Preseason Polls. Seniors Justin Hess and Scooter Williams also picked up Second Team Preseason All-Conference Honors.

The Eagles will need to replace four MLB draftees and three starters from a year ago.

Entering his 14th season at the helm of GSU’s program, head coach Rodney Hennon is the second winningest active coach in the SoCon.

Friday’s game will be the first Hennon has coached without long-time assistant Mike Tidick. Hennon replaced his former teammate with one of his former players. Chris Moore joined the staff from Appalachian State, where he helped the Mountaineers to a regular season title.

WATCH & LISTEN  
The three-game weekend series will be video streamed on http://gseagles.com/watch-listen for free. The  stream will carry the Georgia Southern Radio Network’s feed with long-time play-by-play voice  Ryan Chambers and color commentator Kris Draper on the call.

The Radio Network will also air Friday’s and Sunday’s contests on 103.7 FM in Metter/Statesboro, 900 AM in Savannah and 1370 AM in Jesup. Both games can also be heard online at http://gseagles.com/watch-listen.

UNDER THE LIGHTS  
Senior RHP Justin Hess is set to take over the reigns of the Friday night starter role vacated by second round draft pick Chris Beck.

Hess served as the Saturday starter for most of the 2012 season and went 5-3 with a 3.76 ERA and 85 strikeouts a year ago.

Hess is 9-6 with a 4.70 ERA over 48 career appearances and 26 starts.

QUICK HITS  
Notable GSU SoCon statistical rankings: 4th in on-base percentage (.372), 4th in runs scored (364), 4th in doubles (110), 2nd in hit by pitches (65), 2nd in sac bunts (58), 3rd in stolen bases (88), 3rd in strikeouts (476), 1st in strikeouts looking (169), 2nd in runners picked off (16), 2nd in fielding percentage (.967).

Current streaks: Tyler Avera, four games reached base; T.D. Davis, four hits, 12 games reached base; Chase Griffin, two hits, four games reached base; Justin Hess, two wins; Sam Howard, two wins; Josh Stevenson, two wins; Zac Lenns, three games reached base; Garren Palmer, two hits, six games reached base; Scooter Williams, four games reached base.

Georgia Southern is 5-8 in season openers and 20-15 in the opening series under Head  Coach Rodney Hennon.

Hennon ranks 42nd in winning percentage among active Division I head coaches.

Former Eagle coaches Ron Polk (1972-75) and Jack Stallings (1976-99) rank eighth and 14th, respectively, for most wins in a NCAA career.

Georgia Southern’s 2012 average home attendance of 1,323 fans ranked 47th among Division I schools.

The Eagles were 19-10 (.655) at J.I. Clements Stadium during the 2012 season and finished the year with wins in 12 of the last 16 home games.

Kyle Rowe ranked 9th in the SoCon with six saves and was a big part of why GSU dropped only three games a year ago when leading after six innings.

The pitching staff was 23-9 in 2012 when not allowing a home run.

GEORGIA SERIES HISTORY  
Georgia holds a 49-38-1 record in the all-time series.

The 88-game series opened in 1957, a 6-4 Georgia Southern win.

The Eagles are 15-14-1 at home at J.I. Clements Stadium and won the last meeting in 2005.

The two schools also met in the 2001 Athens Regional. GSU won the opener 4-3 before falling in the second meeting 10-9 in 11 innings.

BACK FOR MORE
Sophomore catcher Chase Griffin returns for his second season after an award-winning freshman campaign. Griffin was named the league’s Freshman of the Year and was a Freshman All-American Selection in 2012.

Griffin led the 2012 team with 10 home runs and posted a team-best .343 batting average during SoCon play.

He is the first GSU freshman since Steve Walson (12 HRs in 1996) to hit 10 home runs in a season.

Griffin hit nine of his homers during a stretch of 20 games from March 17th to April 15th. The Leesburg, Ga., native hit .413 with a 1.341 OPS, six doubles and 24 RBIs during that period.

A YEAR AGO  
A year ago Chris Beck allowed one run on three hits while striking out eight batters to lead the Eagles to their first season-opening win since 2009.

Georgia Southern swept UT Martin 7-5, 10-1, 11-2 in the 2012 opening weekend series.

Michael Burruss led the offense in the series with seven hits in 14 at-bats (.500) and hit two doubles and two home runs while driving in eight runs.

2012 opening day lineup: Stryker Brown, DH; Michael Burruss, LF; Victor Roache, RF; Eric Phillips, 3B; Chase Griffin, C; T.D. Davis, 1B; Ben Morgan, SS; Tyler Avera, 2B; Scooter Williams, CF.

2012 opening Weekend Rotation: Chris Beck, RHP; Josh Adams, RHP; Kyle Rowe, RHP.

HITTING THE BOOKS  
The baseball team posted their second best semester in program history during the fall.

In all 19 players made a 3.0 or better during the fall while seven were named to either the Dean’s or President’s List.

Johnny Blue Craig, Ryan Daiss and Casey Kicklighter all posted perfect 4.0 GPAs in the fall.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its new "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.

Category: Baseball

Published on Sunday, 31 December 1899 19:00