Phillips Tallies #300 in Baseball's Seventh-Straight Win

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team staved off a two-out rally in the ninth inning to pick up a 7-6 win over the Jacksonville Dolphins on Wednesday night at Sessions Stadium. Senior Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) picked up his 300th career hit in the process and helped the Eagles extend their win streak to seven games with a RBI in the fifth inning.

Phillips entered the game three hits shy of becoming the fifth-ever Eagle to tally 300 career hits and picked up the three he needed with three singles. Phillips singled in his first two at-bats in the first and third innings before using his 300th hit to drive in a two-out run in the fifth inning. The senior captain joined Alan Balcomb, Greg Dowling, Tod Greene and Scott Henley in the 300 hit club.

Georgia Southern (20-15) rallied from an early two-run deficit to tie the game at 3-3 on Stryker Brown's (Dalton, Ga.) leadoff home run in the sixth inning. A throwing error by the third baseman Chris Moye allowed Tyler Avera (Baxley, Ga.) to reach base two batters later and extended the inning for Scooter Williams' (Detroit, Mich.) two-out home run. The second home run of the junior's career plated Avera and Hunter Thomas (John's Creek, Ga.), who reached on fielder's choice for the second out of the inning, to put the Eagles up 6-3.

Jacksonville (12-22) made things interesting in the ninth inning after scoring three two-out runs on a double, triple and a home run. Jarret Leverett (Eatonton, Ga.) started the inning with a four-run lead and got two quick outs with a strikeout and a ground ball to second base before Zachary Houck started the rally with a double. Jonathan Murphy tripled in the first run of the inning and scored on a home run by Dan Gulbransen. With the Dolphins trailing by just one run, Kyle Rowe (Valdosta, Ga.) (S, 4) took over for Leverett on the mound and got out of the jam with a strikeout of Matt Frank.

The second save this week by Rowe gave Taylor Burke (Statesboro, Ga.) (1-0) his first career victory in his second year in the program. Burke faced just one batter in Gulbransen and coaxed a fly out to end the fifth inning. Wes Torrez (0-2) took the loss after giving up four runs - one earned - in the sixth inning.

Jacksonville held a lead until the sixth inning and opened the game with a pair of runs in the first inning. Houck drew a leadoff walk and quickly moved into scoring position with a stolen base. Murphy followed with a double to right field to plate the runner from second base and scored the second run of the game on an errant throw during his stolen base attempt of third base.

The two teams traded a run in the third inning and the Dolphins remained ahead 3-1 on a RBI ground out by Murphy. Houck reached base for a second-straight at-bat to lead off the inning, this time with a bunt double down the third base line, and moved to third base on a passed ball before Murphy grounded out to shortstop.

Georgia Southern got their first run of the game in a similar fashion in the top half of the third inning. Williams opened the frame with a double and scored from third base on Chase Griffin's (Leesburg, Ga.) ground out to shortstop.

Griffin moved the Eagles ahead by four runs and scored what proved to be the winning run in the seventh inning. The freshman catcher connected on a long fly ball that bounced off the top of the center field wall for a solo home run, his ninth home run of the season and the fourth in his last 10 games.

Georgia Southern looks to keep things rolling at home this weekend against the top team in the Southern Conference, Appalachian State. The series starts at 6 p.m. on Friday and will continue with games on Saturday and Sunday.

All baseball games this season can be heard on the Boomer 103.7 FM and inside J.I. Clements 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.

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Category: Baseball

Published on Wednesday, 11 April 2012 22:02