Walk-Off Home Run Lifts North Florida in Game One

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - After getting down 5-1 early in the contest, Georgia Southern battled back to tie at 5-5 but a walk-off home run lifted North Florida in game one of the four-game series. Ryan Roberson drove in five runs, including the final three, to power the Ospreys to an 8-5 victory at Harmon Stadium on Thursday.

The Eagles' bullpen held serve with four scoreless frames, allowing Georgia Southern (5-4) to tie the game on a Casey Kicklighter (Jesup, Ga.) double. The freshman designated hitter, who was a triple shy of the cycle in his first start, plated two runs to tie the game with a hard hit ball off the wall in left field.

Relief pitchers Chris Myers (Gainesville, Fla.), Will Middour (Atlanta, Ga.), Drew Johnson (Peachtree City, Ga.) and Jared Cheek (Buckhead, Ga.) combined to limit North Florida to one hit over four innings, but Cheek was tagged with the loss in his second inning of work. Cheek (0-1) allowed three runs on two hits in 1.2 innings. Justin Hess (Panama City, Fla.) got the start for Georgia Southern but struggled with two outs, allowing five runs on seven hits over the first four innings.

Kyle Westwood gave North Florida (5-3) another great start but left with a no decision after Chandler Jagodzinski allowed the tying runs to reach base in the top of the ninth. Westwood worked around 10 hits, allowing just two runs and struck out eight in his second start of the year. Tyler Moore (1-1) got the win after getting the Ospreys out of the jam in the ninth, but gave up the double to Kicklighter after recording a strikeout.

The Eagles picked up 15 hits but left 10 runners on base, including five in the final four frames. Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.) and Kicklighter both had four-hit games and reached base in their final three plate appearances. Ben Morgan (Evans, Ga.) and Eric Philips (Carrollton, Ga.) joined the duo with multi-hit games of their own and finished with two hits each.

The Georgia Southern offense broke a four-inning scoreless streak with a run in the sixth inning. Kicklighter doubled, his first collegiate hit, with one out and scored from third base on a ground out to short by Tyler Avera (Baxley, Ga.). Kicklighter added his first career home run to lead off the eighth inning to pull Georgia Southern within two runs before doubling again in the ninth.

The Eagles struck first in the game with a run in the top of the first inning, but North Florida followed with five unanswered runs to lead 5-1 after the third inning. The Eagles led off the inning with back-to-back singles from Scooter Williams (Detroit, Mich.) and Burruss before Phillips grounded into a double play to score the run.

However, GSU's two-out pitching struggles continued and four of the Ospreys' first five runs came with two outs. Ryan Roberson plated two runs in the bottom of the first with a single to left. After a lead off homer in the second inning, Alex Bacon plated two more runs in the third inning with a two-out chopper back up the middle.

The Eagles return to Harmon Stadium for a 6 p.m contest on Friday night. The four-game series comes to Statesboro on Saturday for a 6 p.m. contest before concluding at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

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.

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Category: Baseball

Published on Thursday, 01 March 2012 21:52