Baseball Wins Sixth-Straight to Open Week

STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team began a five-game week, which includes four home games, with a 3-2 victory over the Kennesaw State Owls. The Eagles picked up their sixth-straight victory behind five solid innings from the bullpen.

Both starting pitchers threw well and provided the J.I. Clements Stadium crowd of 1,044 a rare mid-week pitcher's duel. Sam Howard (Cartersville, Ga.) made his second start of the season, and though he could not complete the fifth inning, left with a one-run lead. Howard did not allow a run on three hits and three walks after Josh Stevenson (Social Circle, Ga.) (2-2) left a pair of runner's stranded in the fifth inning.

Georgia Southern (19-15) tallied just one RBI but took advantage of two errors and a double play to pick up the one-run victory. Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.) and T.D. Davis (Evans, Ga.) combined for four of the Eagles' eight hits in the game but also accounted for half of the eight base runners left stranded.

Also making his second start of the season, Kevin McCoy went two innings further than Howard and posted a quality start of one earned run in 6.1 innings for Kennesaw State (19-15). However, McCoy (0-2) took the loss after allowing two unearned runs. The sophomore walked just one  and struck out seven batters.

Georgia Southern added the pair of unearned runs in the fifth inning to extend their lead to 3-0. However, the Eagles had to hold on after the Owls rallied for two runs in the final four frames to make things interesting. Kyle Rowe (Valdosta, Ga.) came on in the eighth inning after Chirs McGowan knocked in Kennesaw State's second run of the game with a two-out infield single. Rowe (S, 3) retired pinch-hitter Jacob Bruce on a pop up and set down the top of the batting order in stride in the ninth inning to tally his third save of the season.

Tyler Avera (Baxley, Ga.) kept the fifth inning alive by reaching base on a two-out error and came around to score on a single by Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.). The hit also moved Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.), who was hit by a pitch, to third base. Having already picked up the RBI; Phillips was not done driving in runners and drew a throw, while stealing second base, that skipped into center field and allowed Burruss to score the game-winning run.

The Georgia Southern bullpen put the game away by stranding six inherited runners with the help of a combined seven strikeouts. After Kennesaw State got a run back in the sixth inning on a Max Pentecost double, Taylor Burke (Statesboro, Ga.) struck out the two batters to end the frame and leave a pair of runners stranded in scoring position. Drew Johnson (Peachtree City, Ga.) added a scoreless seventh inning and struck out two of the three batters he faced.

Georgia Southern ended the scoreless tie with a run in the fourth inning. Chase Griffin (Leesburg, Ga.) reached base to lead off the frame after being hit by a pitch and scored the first run of the game on a double play. The freshman catcher went first-to-third on Stryker Brown's (Dalton, Ga.) single and came around to score after Davis grounded into the double play.

Georgia Southern travels to Jacksonville tomorrow night for a 6 p.m. before returning to Statesboro to host the Southern Conference leader. The Eagles will take on Appalachian State at 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday before concluding the series at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

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.

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 Tuesday, 10 April 2012 22:11