Deep Tournament Run Caps 2016 Eagle Baseball Campaign

Eagles finish the season with a 36-24 record

Baseball | 6/3/2016 10:00:00 AM

SEASON IN REVIEW NOTES

STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern Baseball had an outstanding 2016 season, posting a 36-24 overall record. Finishing tied for fifth in the regular season standings, the Eagles strung together three-straight wins to reach the Sun Belt Championship Game. The Eagles will enter 2017 with seven returning starters and all three weekend starting pitchers.

QUICK HITS
- Georgia Southern posted its 16th 30+ win season under Head Coach Rodney Hennon in 2016. It was the 16th winning season for Hennon's Eagles who reached the Sun Belt Tournament's Championship Game for the first time.
- Georgia Southern ranked fourth nationally in sacrifice bunts with 75 this season, leading the Sun Belt. CJ Brazil and Evan McDonald rank 14th in the nation with 14.
- For Georgia Southern, the magic number is six. The Eagles are 23-2 this season when scoring six or more runs. Over the past five season the Eagles are a combined 115-19 including 31 wins in 2014.

STAT CHANGES FOR 2016
- After setting the NCAA record for strikeouts in a season last year, the Eagles cut 68 punch outs from their ledger in 2016, a 12.8% reduction. That number was helped by not striking out in the Sun Belt Tournament opener against Little Rock. It was the first time the Eagles didn't strike out since 2006.
- The Eagles were hit 43 more times in 2016 than 2015, an 86% increase.
- In 2016 the Eagles played some small ball, dropping 75 sacrifice bunts, more than doubling their 2015 total of 31 for a 141.9% increase.
- The Eagles scored 57 more runs in 2016, posting a 20.5% gain.
- Defensively the Eagles added 17 points to their fielding percentage, making 38 fewer errors, a 38.8% reduction.
- On the pitching side, the Eagles were more efficient, cutting 0.29 from the team ERA, a 6.8% drop. Additionally, they posted more than 200% gains in complete games (200% increase) and shutouts (250% increase).
- The Eagles cut five walks from their 2015 mark (2.2% reduction) and struck out 106 more batters in 2016 (29.4% increase).
- Finally, the Eagles cut their opponent's batting average from .259 to .223, reducing it by 36 points.

HENNON EARNS 600TH WIN AT GS
- Georgia Southern's May 11th win over North Florida represented the 600th for Head Coach Rodney Hennon at Georgia Southern. The Eagles defeated the Ospreys 2-0 on the day, taking the third shutout of the season.
- Coach Hennon ranks second on the all-time coaching wins list at Georgia Southern, trailing Jack Stalling' record 859 wins between 1976-99.
- Hennon also ranks second among active Sun Belt coaches in wins, trailing UL Lafayette's Tony Robichaux.

AT HOME ON THE ROAD
- Georgia Southern has had a solid season away from home, going 11-4 away and 5-10 at home in league play.
- The Eagles are hitting 67 points better away from Statesboro and scored 34 more runs.
- On the pitching side, the Eagles have a 3.70 ERA away and 3.90 ERA at home in league play.

CLEVELAND ROCKS!!!
- Ryan Cleveland has had a resurgent second half of the season, clubbing eight home runs in the last 22 games of regular season play to take the lead in the Sun Belt.
- He is hitting .286 on the year despite 70 strikeouts while ranking third in the SBC with a .586 slugging percentage.
- With a team-best 15 game hit streak under his belt this season, Cleveland also posted a 37 game reached base streak which spanned March 5th (second game of Memphis series) and May 7th (second game of South Alabama series).

FOUR EAGLES EARN THEIR DEGREES
- One day after the close of the South Alabama series, four Eagles were awarded their degrees in a special commencement ceremony, officiated by interim president Dr. Jean Bartels.
- Ryan Frederick, Drew Kelley, Kent Rollins and Hunter Thomas each graduated with a GPA over 3.0 and received the Athletic Foundation's Academic Excellence Ring for their achievement.

IN THE CLASSROOM
- The Georgia Southern baseball team posted a 3.25 GPA in the fall semester, its highest semester GPA in program history.
- 28 of the Eagles were on the honor roll with 12 on the Dean's List and 3 on the President's List.

GS Partners WITH VS. CANCER FOUNDATION
- Georgia Southern hosted its second Vs. Cancer Day on April 3rd, raising funds and awareness for the Vs. Cancer Foundation to help combat children's cancer.
- The Eagles surpassed their goal of raising $8,000 for the foundation by gathering more than $11,000.
- Fans can still join the fight at http://team.vs-cancer.org/georgiasouthern

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.

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Players Mentioned

#18 Ryan Cleveland: 1B; 6' 5"; Junior; L/L

#27 Ryan Frederick: RHP; 6' 0"; Senior; R/R

#26 Kent Rollins: INF; 6' 0"; Senior; R/R

#21 Hunter Thomas: OF; 5' 10"; Redshirt Senior; L/R

#17 Drew Kelley: C; 6' 2"; Senior; L/R

#31 Evan McDonald: SS; 6' 1"; Junior; R/R

Players Mentioned

#18 Ryan Cleveland
: 6' 5"; Junior; L/L
: 1B

#27 Ryan Frederick
: 6' 0"; Senior; R/R
: RHP

#26 Kent Rollins
: 6' 0"; Senior; R/R
: INF

#21 Hunter Thomas
: 5' 10"; Redshirt Senior; L/R
: OF

#17 Drew Kelley
: 6' 2"; Senior; L/R
: C

#31 Evan McDonald
: 6' 1"; Junior; R/R
: SS

Georgia Southern University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Players Mentioned