STATESBORO, GA. – Georgia Southern Baseball opened a midweek home-and-home series with a  10-2 win over The Citadel at J.I. Clements Stadium. The Eagles improved to 22-15 on the year, matching their high-water mark this season, reaching seven games above .500 for the first time since March 26th. Georgia Southern will face The Citadel on Wednesday night in a 6 p.m. game at Riley Park in Charleston.

QUOTABLES
Head Coach Rodney Hennon
"I thought we played a clean game and all four guys that pitched for us did a good job throwing strikes. The difference in the game was really free bases, we did a good job in not allowing any and we did a good job offensively of drawing some walks and hit batsmen that helped us out. It was a good win, and now we've got to be ready to go compete tomorrow night. We're going to get all they've got so we've got to give it our best."

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Ryan Cleveland
2-for-4 // 2R // 2RBI // 1BB
Junior Ryan Cleveland went 2-for-4 and scored a pair of runs to lead the way for a balanced Eagle offense on Tuesday night. He joined Jordan Wren and CJ Brazil with the multi-hit game and Wren and CJ Ballard in the three-man multi-RBI club.

CRITICAL MOMENTS
TOP 1ST – Jason Smith made an immediate impact on the game, hoisting a solo home run to centerfield. It was the senior's first collegiate home run.
BOTTOM 2ND – Ryan Cleveland helped get the Eagles back even with a leadoff single in the second. Jordan Wren moved him along with a ground out on a hit-and-run, but Hunter Thomas tallied the RBI with his liner up the middle to make it 1-1.
BOTTOM 3RD – The Eagles took their first lead with three runs in the third inning. A walk and a hit batter with two outs opened the door for Cleveland to drive in two with a double down the line in right. He scored later in the inning when Wren singled to left.
TOP 4TH – The Citadel's catcher, Stephen Windham cut the lead to 4-2 with a solo home run. His second bomb of the season counted for his 15th RBI of the year.
BOTTOM 6TH – Wren's single, followed by a walk and two hit batters resulted in a run for the Eagles. An unearned run scored later in the inning with a passed ball which CJ Ballard took advantage of, pushing the lead to 6-2.
BOTTOM 7TH – The lead grew to 7-2 in the seventh as Cal Baker came in to score his only run of the night. Jordan Wren did the damage, sending him home with a one-out RBI ground out.   
BOTTOM 8TH – Four singles on the trot to open the eighth inning scored Kent Rollins and CJ Brazil with no outs. Later in the inning, CJ Ballard scored on Logan Baldwin's RBI ground out. That made it a 10-2 game for the good guys.

NOTES
- Georgia Southern scored 10 runs for the 10th time this season, including back-to-back games and the third time in the Eagles last four non-conference battles.
- The Eagles tallied 10 hits with nine of the single variety.
- Four Eagle pitchers worked in the first of five games this week for the Eagles.
- Starting pitcher Lawson Humphries took the win on the mound, allowing three hits and both home runs while striking out one. He needed 59 pitches while going five complete innings.
- The Eagle bullpen cleaned things up, working the final four innings without allowing a hit and only one runner reaching base.

UP NEXT
The Eagles will look to storm The Citadel on Wednesday to close out this week's home-and-home. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. in Charleston with the action available for free on the SoCon Digital Network at SoConSports.com. The Georgia Southern Sports Network will also be on hand to call the action at Riley Park on the banks of the Ashley River.

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