Baseball Drops Series at Furman on Final Play

GREENVILLE, S.C. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team dropped their Southern Conference series 2-1 to the Furman Paladins on the final play Sunday afternoon. The Eagles were unable to hold on to an 8-5 lead in the final three innings and fell 9-8 after a game-ending double play.

Georgia Southern (11-13, 3-6) got a runner in Zac Lenns (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) to third base with one out on a single by Tyler Avera (Baxley, Ga.). Ben Morgan (Evans, Ga.) tried to get the runner home on a safety squeeze but popped up the bunt down the first base line. Both the pitcher and first baseman collided attempting to record a fly out, and the ball fell to the ground. However, Elliott Warford popped up quickly and turned a double play to record the final two outs. 

Warford (2-0) picked up the win after two scoreless innings of relief. The freshman pitcher allowed two hits in the ninth inning and walked one two-out batter in the eighth inning but got out of the jam in both frames. Drew Johnson (Peachtree City, Ga.) took the loss after allowing the go-ahead run on one hit in 1.1 innings.

Furman (13-12, 3-6) tied the ball game twice before taking a 9-8 lead with a single run in the eighth inning. The Paladins loaded the bases on two walks and a leadoff double from Will Muzika before a sacrifice fly to short center field drove in the runner.

The Eagles took an 8-4 lead with a four-run sixth inning after Casey Kicklighter (Jesup, Ga.) and Scooter Williams (Detroit, Mich.) both homered in the frame. Kicklighter led off the inning with a solo shot to left field to break open a 4-4 tie. Williams later added his first career home run after Morgan was hit by a pitch to plate two more runs. A two-out single by Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) turned into a fourth run after Phillips stole two bases and scored on a wild pitch.

Furman got one run back in the sixth inning before tallying three runs in the seventh inning to tie the game at 8-8. The Paladins tallied three-straight hits to open the frame and all three crossed the plate on a triple, a wild pitch and a single by Will Owens. Chris Ohmstede opened the inning with a double and scored on a triple by Jake Jones.

Furman opened the scoring with two runs in the third inning on two hits after tallying just one through the first two frames. A wild pitch and a sacrifice fly from Hunter Burton scored the two runs after the first two batters singled to lead off the inning. A sacrifice bunt from Will Owens moved both into scoring position.

Georgia Southern broke through in the fourth inning for three runs to take a 3-2 lead. Morgan doubled in two runs after a throwing error scored the first run of the inning. Stryker Brown (Dalton, Ga.) got the rally started with a one-out single and moved to second base after Garren Palmer (Dalton, Ga.) was hit by a pitch. Brown later scored after a throw from shortstop went wide of first base.

The Eagles added to their lead in the fifth inning on a RBI single off the bat of Chase Griffin (Leesburg, Ga.), who moved into the cleanup spot for the first time in his career. The freshman catcher scored Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.), who doubled for the second time in the game to start the inning.

Furman came back with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the game at 4-4. Chris Ohmstede and Jake Jones hit back-to-back solo shots onto the berm in left field. After GSU took an 8-5 lead in the sixth inning, the Paladins rallied to knot everything up at 8-8 in the seventh inning.

Georgia Southern remains on the road at #14 Georgia Tech Tuesday and will play a pair of games against the Yellow Jackets on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both contests will take place at 6 p.m. at Russ Chandler Stadium.

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 Sunday, 25 March 2012 17:48