Baseball Rallies from Early Deficit to Even Series

 Box Score | Video: Post Game with Coach Hennon

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Georgia Southern broke open an 11-11 tie with a three-run seventh inning to even the series with an 18-14 win on Saturday.

Georgia Southern (11-7,4-1 SoCon) took the lead for the final time in the seventh inning after the two teams traded the lead four times. Ben Morgan homered to lead off the inning. Chase Griffin followed with a walk and scored a run on an error after reaching third base on a base hit by T.D. Davis. Robbie Dodds drove in the third run off the inning and the second off of reliever Patrick McGavin with a single down the left field line.

Patrick Moronde (1-1) took the loss for Samford (12-8, 2-3 SoCon) after giving up the go ahead home run to Ben Morgan in the seventh inning. Moronde struck out one batter and allowed one hit over an inning of work.

Justin Hess (2-2) picked up the win in relief of starter Jason Richman. Hess battled on the mound and worked around a pair of home runs to earn his first relief win since April 8, 2011 at Marshall. Hess allowed five runs over four innings and struck out two batters.

The two teams combined for 32 runs on 35 hits and six errors. The two teams hit a combined six home runs and three doubles. Robbie Dodds led the Eagles with four hits. Davis tallied three hits, walked twice and plated four runs. Scooter Williams added three hits and three RBIs, while Morgan tallied three hits and scored two runs. Caleb Bryson led the Bulldogs with four hits, four RBIs and two home runs.

Samford struck for four runs in the bottom of the first inning, GSU had previously allowed only seven total first inning runs over 17 games. C.K. Irby started the scoring with a RBI single before Christiaan Durdaller drove in two more runs with a home run. Drew McWhorter kept the two-out rally going with the fourth-straight hit and drove in the final run of the inning with a single.

Davis started the Eagles' scoring with a solo home run in the second inning before driving in three more with a second homer in the third inning. GSU sent 12 batters to the plate in that frame and scored eight runs on seven hits and an error. Before the home run Griffin plated two runs with a double. Williams drove in the final two runs of the frame with a single.

Samford tied the ballgame at 9-9 with a five-run third inning. The first four batters in the inning reached base before Matt McCall recorded the first out of the inning with a sacrifice fly. Austin Allison scored the third run of the inning with a sacrifice fly before C.K. Irby drove in two more runs with a base hit.

Georgia Southern retook the lead in the fifth inning only to see the Bulldogs score two runs in the sixth inning to even the score at 11-11. The Eagles outscored Samford 7-3 over the final three innings to secure their first win of the series.

After scoring three times in the seventh inning, GSU scored a single run in the eighth inning after Allison misplayed a hard hit ball by Griffin. The Eagles added three more runs in the ninth on a bases-loaded walk by Tyler Avera and an error by the shortstop on a bouncing ball off the bat of Morgan.

The series concludes tomorrow at 2 p.m. EDT. Coverage on the Georgia Southern Radio Network starts 30 minutes prior to first pitch.

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 Saturday, 16 March 2013 19:27