Baseball Splits Saturday with Furman

GREENVILLE, S.C. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team picked up a win in the resumption of Friday night's contest and Furman split the series with a win in game two. The Eagles remain a game under .500 at 11-12 but picked up their third Southern Conference victory of the season to move to 3-5 on the year. The Paladins remain even on the year with a 12-12 record and avoided the sweep to move to 2-6 in the conference.

Game One

Georgia Southern had to wait until Saturday and survive a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth  inning to win Friday's series opener 7-3. A 47-minute downpour in the top of the seventh inning soaked the outfield and forced the game to be resumed on Saturday at noon.

The rain delay meant the end of Chris Beck's (Jefferson, Ga.) start. The junior pitcher allowed two early runs on seven hits but struck out eight batters, including seven from the third inning on. He was countered by Bobby Lyne in a great pitcher's duel on Friday night. Lyne struck out five and did not walk a batter in his six innings.

Neither pitcher factored into the decision after a two-out rally in the eighth inning was capped off by a Paul Nitto RBI single to right field. Furman forced extra innings with a single run in the eighth after neither team was able to push across a run in the ninth. However, two walks and an error loaded the bases for the Paladins in the ninth inning, but Kyle Rowe (Valdosta, Ga.) struck out Alex Abrams to end the frame.

Rowe (3-1) picked up the win in relief with three innings of work on Saturday. The junior worked around four hits and three walks but allowed only one run after the strikeout of Abrams. Matt Solter (0-1) was tagged with his first lost of the season after surrendering three of the four runs in the Eagles' four-run 10th inning.

The Eagles opened the final inning with a walk by Scooter Williams (Detroit, Mich.) and two more walks with one out loaded the bases. Stryker Brown (Dalton, Ga.) broke open the 3-3 tie with a two-RBI double into the right field corner. Brown later scored the fourth run of the frame by avoiding the tag of Paul Nitto. Chase Griffin (Leesburg, Ga.) plated the two runs with a single to left field.

Furman opened the first three innings with a double and scored the leadoff runner, Will Owens, in the first and third innings. A single from Will Muzika plated Owens in the first inning, and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Will Miller drove in Owens for the second time in the third inning.

Georgia Southern took a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning with two runs in the third inning and a single tally in the fourth. Griffin sparked the offense with a solo homer to lead off the third inning and a strike three wild pitch to the next batter, Tyler Avera (Baxley, Ga.), put a runner in scoring position. Avera came around to score on a sacrifice bunt by Ben Morgan (Evans, Ga.) and a sacrifice fly from Williams.

Avera plated a runner in his next at-bat in the fourth inning to break open a 2-2 tie. Brown blooped a ball over the head of the second baseman and reached second base after Casey Kicklighter (Jesup, Ga.) dropped a ball in no-man's land in right field.

Game Two

Furman evened the series with a 6-2 win in game two on Saturday. Georgia Southern was held to just two hits for most of the contest, and the Paladins took advantage. Furman opened a 5-0 lead before the Eagles pushed across two runs in the eighth inning.

Nate Smith (2-3) retired 17-straight batters from the final two outs in the second inning through the seventh inning. Griffin broke the streak with a single to start the eighth inning, and Casey Kicklighter (Jesup, Ga.) put Georgia Southern on the board with a two-run homer over the left field wall. Smith allowed just those two runs on six hits in 7.2 innings. Elliott Warford (S, 6) closed the door with a scoreless 1.1 innings and struck out three batters for the save.

Josh Stevenson (Social Circle, Ga.) (0-2) took the loss after allowing three runs - one earned run - on six hits and one walk. Stevenson lasted 3.2 innings before being lifted for Josh Adams (Bath, S.C.), who allowed two more runs on one hit in an inning.

Furman opened the game with a single run in the first inning on a RBI single from Will Miller. A pair of errors in the third inning led to two more runs. The Paladins tallied two of their 12 hits in the third inning to put two runners on base before the errors allowed both runners to cross the plate.

Furman came back with two more runs in the fifth inning to take a 5-0 advantage. Will Miller walked to lead off the frame and stole two bases before scoring on a wild pitch. Zack Greenwell plated the second run on a two-out RBI single.

The series concludes Sunday at 1 p.m. with Will Middour (Atlanta, Ga.) (0-2, 2.70) on the mound for his second start of the season. Furman will counter with junior right hander Ben Carlson (1-3, 5.97).

All games can be heard on 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 Saturday, 24 March 2012 18:42