TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

LAFAYETTE, LA. - Georgia Southern Baseball begins its quest for the 2018 Sun Belt Baseball Championship on Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. (CT) / 10 a.m. (ET). The Eagles enter the postseason as the No. 5 seed, facing the No. 4 seeded South Alabama Jaguars.

All games of the tournament will be available on ESPN+ and the WatchESPN app. The tournament format combines single and double-elimination play. Two single-elimination first round games on Tuesday precede the start of double-elimination play between the remaining eight teams.

GAME NOTES
Georgia Southern
South Alabama

WEDNESDAY (5.23.18)
Georgia Southern vs. South Alabama
9 a.m. (CT) / 10 a.m. (ET) - Russo Park at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field (Lafayette, La.)
RADIO - Ga. Southern Sports Network
VIDEO - ESPN+
LIVE STATS
GS - RHP - Chase Cohen (5-4, 4.01 ERA)
USA - RHP - Tyler Carr (8-3 - 3.15 ERA)

QUICK HITS
- Georgia Southern enters the 2018 Sun Belt Tournament as the No. 5 seed in Cajun Country. The Eagles are on the same side of the bracket as top seed Coastal Carolina, South Alabama and the lowest seeded surviving team from Tuesday's play in round.
- Two errors in the ninth inning doomed the Eagles in the regular season finale, dropping a 5-4 decision to Georgia State.
- 2018 marks Georgia Southern's fourth appearance in the Sun Belt Tournament. The Eagles have gone to the Championship Game in their last two appearances and own a 5-4 overall record. This is Georgia Southern's second-straight season entering the postseason as the No. 5 seed.
- Georgia Southern's first round opponent, South Alabama, owns a six-game win streak over the Eagles following series sweep by the Jaguars in Mobile this season.
- Defensively the Eagles not had the greatest season, ranking 11th in the Sun Belt with a .962 fielding percentage. The story behind the number was an injury to shortstop Austin Thompson which forced him to miss 27 games. The Eagles fielded at a .956 average without Thompson, committing 42 errors. With Thompson, the Eagles have raised that mark to .969, conceding 31 errors in the 27 games he has played.
- Georgia Southern batters have been hit by 83 pitches to lead the Sun Belt and rank 21st in the nation. Steven Curry has been hit 22 times to rank sixth in the nation and tops in the Sun Belt while Christian Avant has worn 15 pitches to rank fourth in the league and 51st in Division I.
- Georgia Southern has had an outstanding history in conference tournaments of making it to the business end of the bracket. The Eagles have reached the Championship Game 21 times with 10 victories in the finale.
- Some of Brian Eichhorn's best moments have come in the Sun Belt Tournament. The junior earned All-Tournament team honors in 2016 by throwing 7.1 shutout, three hit innings against South Alabama in the semifinals. Last year, Eichhorn entered the postseason as a bullpen arm, tossing 6.1 relief innings allowing three runs in the Semifinals to Texas State with eight strikeouts.
- Georgia Southern Head Coach Rodney Hennon has consistently reached the 30 win mark in his career, crossing the threshold 19 times in his 20 total seasons and 17 of 18 years at Georgia Southern. One more win will take Coach Hennon above this standard for the 18th time at Georgia Southern.
- After sustaining an injury in the second game of the season, Tyler Martin missed the next 33 games. He made his return on April 17th against the College of Charleston. He hit his first home run of the season on Saturday, April 21st with a solo home run to left.
- Brian Eichhorn was one with the force on May 4, tossing a complete game, one-hit shutout to stymie Troy, the league's top hitting team entering the series. Brian fanned nine and walked just one while taking his no-hitter bid to the seventh inning, before the Trojans only hit, a single through the left side. The one-hitter was the first for the Eagles since five pitchers combined for a one-hitter in February of 2001 against Tennessee Tech.
- Six has been the magic number over the last five years for Georgia Southern Baseball with a 118-16 record when scoring six or more runs. The Eagles were 30-6 last year with six or more.