Bats Come Alive in Mid-Week Victory

STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team exploded for 15 runs over three innings but had to hold on for a 17-11 win over the Jacksonville Dolphins on Tuesday at J.I. Clements Stadium. Chase Griffin (Leesburg, Ga.) drove in five of the runs on four hits and two long balls, including his first career grand slam.

Justin Hess (Panama City, Fla.) (1-0) got Georgia Southern (10-11) off to a good start by holding Jacksonville (10-12) without a hit the first time through the order but struggled finding the third out in the fifth inning. Hess allowed seven runs - four earned - on seven hits and no walks. The junior pitcher struck out six batters in five innings for his first win of the season.

The Eagles finished the day with a season-high 18 hits. Six different Georgia Southern hitters tallied two hits or more and all but two of the 11 batters to record an at-bat picked up a base hit.

The Eagles took advantage of the early success by Hess. After he faced the minimum with four strikeouts in the first two innings, Georgia Southern exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the second and took a 15-2 lead after a six run fourth inning.

Casey Kicklighter (Jesup, Ga.) and Griffin both homered in the second inning to plate three runs, all before five-straight batters reached base to score five more runs. Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) and T.D. Davis (Evans, Ga.) combined to drive in four of the runs with a pair of two-RBI base hits.

The Dolphins' starter, Spencer Jack (0-1), was lifted after hitting Ben Morgan (Evans, Ga.) with a pitch with one out in the second inning. He was tagged with the loss after surrendering four runs on three hits and one walk. The bullpen did not fare much better for Jacksonville, as four of the six pitchers used out of the pen allowed multiple runs to score.

Griffin added his second home run of the game in the fourth inning, plating four of the six runs in the fourth inning on his first career grand slam. Davis started the scoring with a base hit to center, and Stryker Brown (Dalton, Ga.) plated another run with a double on his second at-bat of the inning.

Jacksonville batted around in the fifth inning and scored five runs on six hits to pull within 10 runs of the Eagles. Dan Gulbransen plated two runs on a single to left field, and Adam Brett Walker plated another run with a double.

Georgia Southern added two more runs in the seventh inning after the Dolphins struck for two runs in the top half of the frame. Hunter Thomas' (Johns Creek, Ga.) first career-hit drove in Griffin and Williams, who recorded a single and a walk around a sacrifice bunt by Morgan. Thomas entered on defense in the fifth inning and walked in the sixth inning before delivering a one-out double into the left-center gap.

Jacksonville pulled within six runs in the eighth inning before Jarret Leverett (Eatonton, Ga.) closed the door with a one-two-three ninth inning. Dan Gulbransen homered to left field to score himself and Taylor Ratliff, who led off the inning with a double, for two runs in the eighth.

Georgia Southern returns to Southern Conference play at Furman this weekend. The three-game series opens Friday night at 6 p.m. and continues at 4 p.m. on Saturday and 1 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.

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, 20 March 2012 22:35