Baseball | 3/17/2016 2:58:00 PM

GAME NOTES | UPCOMING PROMOTIONS

STATESBORO, GA. – After opening league play last weekend with a three-game sweep of Appalachian State, Georgia Southern Baseball returns home this weekend for a three-game set against Troy. First pitch on Friday and Saturday is set for 7 p.m. with Sunday's finale starting at 1 p.m. All three games will be broadcast on GS All-Access at GSEagles.com with radio coverage on the Georgia Southern Sports Network.

This weekend's series is Education Weekend at the ballpark. All Georgia Southern faculty/staff and Bulloch County Teachers, staff, and students can purchase $5 tickets to each game. Sunday's finale features a "Spring into Savings" with discount $8 general admission tickets for the series finale.

TEAM RECORDS
Georgia Southern – 12-5 (3-0 Sun Belt)
Troy – 10-8 (1-2 Sun Belt)

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
FRIDAY (3.18.16)
7 p.m. – J.I. Clements Stadium (Statesboro, Ga.)
RADIO – Ga. Southern Sports Network
VIDEO – GS All-Access
LIVE STATS
GS - LHP – Evan Challenger
TROY - RHP – Grant Bennett

SATURDAY (3.19.16)
7 p.m. – J.I. Clements Stadium (Statesboro, Ga.)
RADIO – Ga. Southern Sports Network
VIDEO – GS All-Access
LIVE STATS
GS - RHP – Chase Cohen
TROY - RHP – Lucas Brown

SUNDAY (3.20.16)
1 p.m. – J.I. Clements Stadium (Statesboro, Ga.)
RADIO – Ga. Southern Sports Network
VIDEO – GS All-Access
LIVE STATS
GS - RHP – Brian Eichhorn
TROY - LHP – Evan Hebert

QUICK HITS
- Georgia Southern is in a three-way tie for first place in the Sun Belt with South Alabama and Texas State following the opening round of league games.
- Georgia Southern enters the Troy series on their second five-game hit streak of the year and have won 10 of their last 11 games.
- Georgia Southern trails Troy 7-1 in the all-time series with the Trojans coming to Statesboro for the first time in series history.
- Last time at home, Georgia Southern defeated Kennesaw State with the highly uncommon walk-off balk. Logan Hutchinson entered the game with no outs and runners on the corners in the 12th.  Before throwing his first pitch, he turned for a pickoff attempt and faked the throw, plating Eric Furphy for the winning run.
- Last Tuesday's win over Kennesaw State was the Eagles' third extra innings contest of the year and the longest game between the Owls and Eagles in series history at 12 innings. It was also the longest of the season by time, clocking in at 4:50, besting the 16-inning lost to Georgia Tech by five minutes.
- The Eagles defeated Mercer 11-10 on Tuesday night while hitting a pair of home runs for the first time this season. Georgia Southern will not play a midweek game next week, but instead open a three-game series at Arkansas State on Thursday.

EVAN MCDONALD'S ON A TEAR, EI-EI-O
- Junior shortstop Evan McDonald has catapulted himself into the conversation as one of the Eagles top hitters with an eight-game hit streak that has taken him from a sub-.100 hitter to .302 entering the Troy series.
- McDonald is 12-for-26 on his current streak (.462) including his first home run as a member of the Eagles.
- At Appalachian State he entered the weekend with five hits in the season's first 13 games. He went 5-for-11 in the series.

TICKETS
Eagle Baseball tickets can be purchased immediately by visiting GSEagles.com/Tickets and following the path to the baseball portal. Fans can also call 1-800-GSU-WINS during normal business hours or visit the Georgia Southern Athletics Ticket Office in the Cowart Building on Lanier Drive adjacent to Paulson Stadium.

COMING UP NEXT
Georgia Southern visits Arkansas State next weekend for an Easter Weekend series against the Red Wolves. The series runs Thursday-Friday-Saturday in Jonesboro.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. Fans can purchase tickets to Georgia Southern Athletics events by visiting GSEagles.com/Tickets.