Georgia Southern University
29-18, 14-12
South Alabama
35-14, 18-5
Eagle Baseball Bests No. 22 South Alabama, 11-9, to Take The Series Win
5/8/2016 12:13:00 AM | Baseball
Ryan Cleveland drives in five runs including his first career grand slam
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Rodney Hennon
"Sometimes you've got to grind out a win and we did that today. We knew that we were going to be in for a battle all weekend. I'm proud of our guys, it wasn't how you draw it up, but we battled through some adversity and the guys hung in there. They continued to play hard and found a way to come out on top. But, the job's not done, we've still got one more to play tomorrow."
CRUCIAL MOMENTS
TOP 3RD – A pair of two out hits and a walk loaded the bases for Ryan Cleveland. The junior slugger tattooed a ball to right for his first collegiate grand slam. It was his 11th home run of the season, surpassing his 2015 total.
BOTTOM 3RD – The Jaguars got the bases loaded with one out in the third with a pair of walks. A sacrifice fly to center gave the home side its first run of the day. A single up the middle drove in two more to make it a 4-3 game.
TOP 5TH – Logan Baldwin got a two-out hit to center and scored four pitches later on Cleveland's double to the gap in right. He was just feet from his second home run of the day. The run extended the lead to 5-3.
TOP 6TH – An attempted sacrifice fly with one out was too short to score Cal Baker from third, but the USA left fielder muffed the catch, allowing the run to score. Later in the inning, a two-out infield single by Baldwin pushed Kent Rollins home to make it a 7-3 lead.
TOP 7TH – The Jaguars kicked the ball around in the seventh, allowing a run to score when the inning should have been over. It extended the lead to 8-3.
BOTTOM 7TH – South Alabama answered in the bottom of the seventh, moving a leadoff single around to third base. A bleeder to right drove in the run to cut the lead to 8-4. The Jags loaded the bases, but a ground ball to short ended the frame.
BOTTOM 8TH – South Alabama cut three runs off the Eagle lead in the eighth with a pair of walks and a three-run home run to right by Danny Martinez.
TOP 9TH – A leadoff walk and a single by Wren opened the door for Cal Baker to drive in two while Matt Anderson drove in one more to push the lead to 13-7.
BOTTOM 9TH – The Jaguars loaded the bases with two walks and a double, ultimately driving one in with a single to center. The third walk of the inning pushed in the Jaguars 9th run of the game.
NOTES
- Eagle pitches walked a season-high 14 batters on Saturday night, but it was Ryan Frederick that took the win, his first of the year with four innings of shutout relief.
- All nine Eagle batters tallied hits while five scored multiple hits including three from Jordan Wren.
UP NEXT
Georgia Southern and South Alabama close out the three-game set on Sunday with a 1 p.m. (CT)/2 p.m. (ET) series finale. The Eagles will go for the sweep with Adam Kelly going to the mound.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Frederick, Ryan (1-1)
L: Soleymani, Hunter (4-2)
S: Brown, Chris (4)
Batting:
2B: McDonald, Evan 1 ; Cleveland, Ryan 1 ; Wren, Jordan 1
HR: Cleveland, Ryan 1
RBI: Baldwin, Logan 1 ; Cleveland, Ryan 5 ; Baker, Cal 2 ; Anderson, Matt 1
SH: Thomas, Hunter 1 ; Anderson, Matt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: McDonald, Evan 1 ; Baldwin, Logan 2 ; Cleveland, Ryan 2 ; Wren, Jordan 1 ; Baker, Cal 2 ; Rollins, Kent 2 ; Ballard, CJ 1
SB: Baker, Cal 1 ; Rollins, Kent 1 ; Ballard, CJ 1
HBP: Cleveland, Ryan 1
Batting:
2B: Swaggerty, Travis 1 ; Bolger, Matt 1
HR: Martinez, Danny 1
RBI: Swaggerty, Travis 1 ; LaBounty, Drew 1 ; Martinez, Danny 3 ; Perkins, Carter 1 ; Donovan, Brendan 2 ; Hardy, Dylan 1
SF: Perkins, Carter 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Swaggerty, Travis 1 ; Billingsley, Cole 1 ; Haskin, Jalen 1 ; LaBounty, Drew 1 ; Martinez, Danny 2 ; Hardy, Dylan 1 ; Bolger, Matt 1 ; Raspino, Ryan 1
SB: LaBounty, Drew 1
CS: Cryar, Jason 1
HBP: Gann, Ben 1
