Baseball Splits with Indiana

Game One Box | Game Two Box | Video: Post game with T.D. Davis and Sam Howard

STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern baseball team split a two-game weather shortened series with Indiana.

Georgia Southern (4-2) picked up a 12-7 win in game one of the series, while Indiana (3-2) won game two 11-5 on Sunday.

The Eagles tallied 20 hits over the two games and scored 17 runs. Chase Griffin snapped out of an early season slump to post a team-best five hits in the series. Kyle Streicher, T.D. Davis and Scooter Williams all recorded three hits and a double. Michael Basil and Chris Sujka led the Hoosiers with four hits each. 

Game One

GSU was finally able to complete Friday's series opener, which was delayed to Saturday due to fog and to Sunday due to rain, on Sunday morning.

The Eagles jumped ahead 5-0 Friday night behind a strong outing from starter Justin Hess, who allowed one run over 3.1 innings, before heavy fog forced the game to be suspended.

A Chase Griffin single plated a lead off double from Scooter Williams to score the game's first run in the first inning. Georgia Southern added four more runs in the second inning off of four hits and two Indiana errors. T.D. Davis plated two runs with a double, and Williams and Griffin added RBI singles to push the Eagles ahead 5-0.

After Indiana scored two runs in the fourth inning, GSU responded with seven runs over the fifth and sixth innings. Ben Morgan, Griffin and Davis launched three consecutive home runs in the sixth inning, the first time the Eagles have done that since a 17-7 win over Jacksonville on April 30, 2008; and Davis added a two-run homer in the fifth to put Georgia Southern ahead 12-4.

Sam Howard (W, 2-0), who earned the win after 4.1 innings of relief, held Indiana scoreless after the fourth inning; but the Hoosiers battled back in the final two frames to score five runs. Howard allowed two of his three runs in the eighth inning when a lead off single in Justin Cureton scored on Casey Smith's single and Trace Knoblauch walked in a run.

Three-straight batters reached in the ninth inning for Indiana, and the runs three scored on a wild pitch, Smith single and a Dustin DeMuth sacrifice fly. Josh Stevenson recorded the final three outs in the game after allowing the Smith single.

Joey DeNato (L, 0-1), who did not return to the mound on Saturday, took the loss after allowing five runs – two earned – on six hits. He pitched just two innings but threw 42 pitches.

Game Two

Indiana scored three runs in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth to pick up an 11-5 win in game two on Sunday.

Georgia Southern was held to six hits by the Hoosiers' pitching staff. Kyle Hart threw four innings and allowed three runs – two earned – on two hits while walking four. Scott Effross (W, 1-0) got the win in relief after allowing one earned run over 4.2 innings.

Freshman Jason Richman (L, 1-1) was tagged with his first loss after giving up six runs on eight hits over 4.2 innings. Matt McCall threw three innings in his Eagle debut but allowed three runs on four hits.

Georgia Southern tied the game at 3-3 in the third inning after Morgan plated a lead off walk, and Zac Lenns drove in the junior third baseman two batters later with a single.

Indiana added three runs in the fifth inning on a Casey Smith double, Chad Clark bases loaded hit by pitch and a Sujka RBI single. The Hoosiers took an 8-3 lead in the top of the sixth inning after scoring on solo home runs by Kyle Schwarber and Scott Donley.

The Eagles got a run back in the bottom half of the frame, scoring an unearned run on a Stryker Brown single. The run, however, would be the last for GSU until the ninth inning.

After the Hoosiers scored twice in the eighth inning and once in the ninth inning, Williams drove in a one-out triple in the bottom of the ninth. Two batters later and with two outs, reliever Luke Harrison recorded the final out with a ground ball to shortstop.

Georgia Southern remains at home and will face Georgia Tech in a pair of mid-week games Tuesday and Wednesday. Both games are 6 p.m. first pitches, and it will be Nerd and Greek night at the ballpark. Student tickets are available for pick up at the Georgia Southern Athletic Ticket Office until Tuesday at 3 p.m.

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, 24 February 2013 16:22