Eagle Baseball Closes Out Home Schedule This Weekend

STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern University baseball closes out the home schedule this weekend, playing host to UNC Greensboro. The three-game series begins Friday night (May 9) at 7 p.m. Saturday is a 6 p.m. first pitch and Sunday is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

Georgia Southern fans can listen to every baseball game on Eagle 102.9 FM or via the internet at www.GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com. The pregame show begins 30 minutes prior to the game. The game will also be broadcast via the website on Eagle Vision.

Throughout the series, Georgia Southern baseball will hold a book drive to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Bulloch County. Each person who donates a book will receive a free general admission ticket to that day’s game.

Prior to Sunday’s first pitch the Eagles will honor the five graduating seniors: Burt Barto (Columbus/Columbus), Jeremy Beckham (Griffin/Griffin), Aaron Eubanks (Moultrie/Colquitt County), Jeremiah Parker (Carrollton/Carrollton) and David Richardson (Dahlonega/Lumpkin County).

Probable Starters:

Friday: Kyle Kamppi (4-3, 6.14) vs. Greg Martin (6-2, 3.49)

Saturday: Drew Murray (7-1, 7.28) vs. Wes McCall (1-5, 4.41)

Sunday: Andy Moye (2-4, 6.57) vs. Alex Shelton (4-3, 5.28)

SHEHAN FINALIST FOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Chris Shehan (Strasburg, PA/Lampeter-Strasburg) was named one of 50 finalists for the 2008 Dick Howser Award Watch List. The National Player of the Year Award is sponsored by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). The NCBWA membership will conduct three rounds of voting to choose the national award winner... Shehan was also named to the Brooks Wallace Award watch list, announced by the College Baseball Foundation...This week Shehan was ranked among the ‘Top 100’ nationally in nine different categories, including a second place ranking in runs scored, total bases and on-base percentage... Shehan’s current .436 season batting average would rank fourth in program history... The junior outfielder also paces the offense in: runs scored (72), on-base percentage (.556), home runs (17) and walks (43) while standing second in RBI (60), slugging percentage (.814) and stolen bases (20-21)... Twice this year Shehan has hit two home runs in a game - the series opener against USC Upstate then three games later in the same week versus Columbia (part of the NCAA record 14 hit). He is a national ‘Player of the Week’ award winner, twice been named SoCon Player of the Week and was the SoCon’s ‘March Player of the Month”.

WRIGHT WAY TO LEADOFF: Junior Ty Wright (Montrose/West Laurens) has continued to flourish this year from the leadoff spot... Of his 16 home runs, seven have started an inning and six led off a game. Those six leadoff home runs are a GS record... Wright has hit a leadoff home run in at least one game of all but one Southern Conference series this year... He owns a .394 batting average with 52 runs scored (2nd on team), team-leading 16 doubles and 45 RBI... Wright has 22 walks and eight hit by pitches to only 23 Ks, posting a .487 on-base percentage... He is a national ‘Player of the Week’ award winner and was the SoCon’s ‘April Player of the Month’...  Over the past 13 games Wright is batting .417 with eight doubles, seven homers, 17 runs scored and 27 RBI. In that span he owns a .933 slugging percentage.

- - Leadoff Home Runs - -

• Western Carolina game 3 (W 15-12);

• at Charleston game 2 (L 4-5);

• at Elon game 3 (L 8-12);

• Appalachian State game 1 (W 13-6);

• Davidson game 1 (W 10-4);

• Davidson game 2 (W 20-2)

WRIGHT GOES FOR THE CYCLE: Junior Ty Wright became the second Eagle (David Richardson) in a month span to hit for the cycle in consecutive innings. During game three at Wofford, Wright started off with a leadoff single. He hit a 2-run home run in the second then followed with a RBI triple in the third. During the fourth inning Wright lined a 2-run double.

BENEDICT BEHIND THE PLATE: Junior Griffin Benedict  (Dunwoody/St. Pius) continues to impress both offensively and defensively. Benedict brings a .371 batting average into this weekend with 16 doubles, team-leading two triples and 10 home runs. He joined the elite 50 runs scored/50 RBI club in program history (50/61). He leads the team and is second in the Southern Conference RBI race...  Benedict also ranks 81st in toughest to strikeout (once in every 12.7 at-bats)... Behind the plate Benedict has posted a .980 fielding percentage and holds the team lead with four pickoffs... Twice this year Benedict has hit two home runs in a game, the Boston College finale and in game two against Columbia, part of the NCAA record 14 hit that game... He knocked his first career grand slam in the Wofford series... Over the past 13 games he’s hitting at a .442 clip with 17 runs, 14 RBI and just two strikeouts in 43 at-bats. Benedict posted a .538 on-base percentage.

WIRNSBERGER OWNS THE HOT CORNER: Sophomore third baseman A.J. Wirnsberger (Tuscaloosa, AL/Paul Bear Bryant) enters this weekend hitting .320 with 52 runs scored (2nd on team), 59 RBI (3rd) and 17 home runs (1st)... He just missed on another double-digit hitting streak this year, going hitless against Mercer and ending a nine-game streak... Wirnsberger is in the process of leading the team in hit by a pitch (11) for the second straight year... Wirnsberger hit his first career grand slam during the Towson series then hit another against Western Carolina... He turned in his second career 2-HR game, accomplishing the feat against Kennesaw State. His third multi-HR game came during game two at Davidson, part of his 4-hit, 6-RBI game... Wirnsberger stands 6-for-6 in stolen bases... Over the past 13 games Wirnsberger is hitting .404 with seven homers, 23 RBI and 17 runs scored while defensively committing one error.

50-50 CLUB MEMBERS: For the first time since 1999, Georgia Southern has three players join the 50/50 club (50 runs scored and 50 RBI) in the same year... Two more are on the verge of joining the elite group... The 1999 team had three members but the 1983 team has the most members with four.

- Chris Shehan is a two-time member of the group, one of 12 players in program history to accomplish the feat in multiple years... In fact he is a member of the 70/60 club which has been done only five other times. The last came in the 2000 season when Matt Easterday (78/77) went on to be named Southern Conference ‘Player of the Year’.

- Griffin Benedict recently joined, scoring 50 runs while driving in a team-leading 61 runs.

- Sophomore A.J. Wirnsberger is also a member thanks to his 52 runs scored and 59 RBI.

- Jeremiah Parker (45/52) and Ty Wright (52/45) are close to joining the ranks.

SCOUTING THE SPARTANS: UNC Greensboro is coming off a weekend sweep against College of Charleston, then a midweek split against High Point (W 4-3) and North Carolina A&T (L 5-3) all at home... The Spartans have hit 18 triples this year, 28th nationally... The .305 team batting average ranks 86th... UNCG also ranks 44th averaging 7.6 runs per game... The Spartans’ 33 sacrifice flies stand fifth, led by Tim Carrier’s nation-leading 10... Ricky Orton (32nd) leads the Spartans with 14 home runs, 19 doubles and a .369 batting average... Greg Feltes paces the team with 55 runs scored with Carrier right behind at 53... Greg Martin owns a 6-2 record and 3.49 ERA in 67 innings... Rob Gilliam (3-3) has seven saves with a 5.15 ERA... UNCG owns a .967 fielding percentage and 5.36 ERA... The Spartans have played 34 of their 50 games at home, posting a 7-8 record on the road.

HOME RUN RECORD NIGHT: Georgia Southern hit three consecutive home runs against Jacksonville, the last two tying then breaking the single-season record. At 97 home runs and counting, the current Eagles surpassed the 1990 College World Series team in the record book... Ty Wright, Phillip Porter (Marietta/Sprayberry) and Chris Shehan hit consecutive home runs during the third inning. Porter’s shot tied the record then Shehan broke it... Chris Shehan (twice), Griffin Benedict (twice), A.J. Wirnsberger (twice), Kyle Blackburn (Marietta/Walton) and Jeremiah Parker and have all hit two homers in a game this year... The last Eagle to lead the nation in home runs was Tommy Peterman hitting 26 in 1996. He is also the last Eagle to crack the season ‘Top 10’ list.

HOME RUNS IN THE NCAA, SoCON: The Eagles are 47 home runs shy of tying for 10th place among the NCAA single-season leaders... GS currently stands fourth on the SoCon season leaderboard, 19 away from Western Carolina’s 116 in the 1988 season. Up next in third place is the 1997 Catamounts with 100.

RUNNING IN THE SoCON: Not only is Georgia Southern ranked among the Southern Conference home run leaders, the Eagles also cracked the ‘Top 10’ in runs scored. With 499, the Eagles stand 10th but only eight runs away from seventh place. Western Carolina’s 560 runs in 1997 ranks first.

SEEING DOUBLE: In addition to the home runs, this year’s team could also break the program’s single-season doubles record... Currently with 136, the Eagles moved into fifth place and are 19 shy of the record. Last year the team finished with the second-most doubles (143)... Eight players are currently in double-figures led by Chris Shehan, Ty Wright and Griffin Benedict with 16 each.

.300 IN THE LINEUP: Georgia Southern is proving there is no easy out in its line-up... The current .350 team batting average would be the second-highest average on record... Eight starters are hitting .315 or better, including Chris Shehan at .436. Ty Wright (.394), David Richardson (.382), Phillip Porter (.372) and Griffin Benedict (.371) are all challenging the .400 mark... The offense is also on pace to crack the season ‘Top 10’ in several other categories.

EAGLE SLUGGERS: With the success of scoring runs and hitting extra-base hits, it’s no surprise that the Eagles enter this week first nationally in: slugging percentage (.594), home runs (97/ 2.02), runs (499), hits (634) and doubles (136)... Five Eagles are also ranked among the national ‘Top 100’ in RBI per game: Griffin Benedict (23rd), Chris Shehan (29th), A.J. Wirnsberger (46th), Ty Wright (81st) and Jeremiah Parker (92nd).

STOP THIEF: The Eagles have stolen 100-of-119 bases, an average of 2.08 per game... Three times this season the Eagles stole seven bases (Towson, Appalachian State and Davidson)... Career ‘Top 10’ member Jeremy Beckham improved to 23-of-26. Chris Shehan is close behind at 20-of-21. Phillip Porter is next with 17-of-22... Ty Wright and David Richardson have nine steals each.

SEVEN HIT DOUBLE-DIGITS: Seven different Georgia Southern players have recorded a double-digit hitting streak... David Richardson became the latest member of the group, currently riding a personal-high 14-game hitting streak. The senior outfielder is one shy of the team season-high... A.J. Wirnsberger saw his 13-game hitting streak end during game one at Elon... Ty Wright also had his 12-game hitting streak end at Elon... Phillip Porter holds the team lead posting a 15-game streak... Chris Shehan and Jeremy Beckham strung together an 11-game stretch while Kyle Blackburn had a 10-game streak to kick off the season.

MORE SCORING NOTES: GS is 27-0 when leading after seven innings... The Eagles won their first game (6-4 win at Kennesaw State) when scoring 6-9 runs, now 2-10 on the year following a 6-5 win over The Citadel in game three... The Eagles are 21-3 when hitting two or more home runs... When scoring 10 or more runs GS is 24-1... Out of 10 frames, GS is only getting outscored in two (seventh and ninth inning)... When the Eagles out-hit the opposition they are 21-5... Anytime GS scores in the first inning they are 15-6... The Eagles have dominated the 2nd-5th innings, holding a +117 run differential in that span.

SoCON STATS: Georgia Southern owns a team .342 batting average in Southern Conference play... Jeremy Beckham leads the way batting .429 with Chris Shehan at .425 close behind... Ty Wright (.391) has hit 11 home runs, scored 32 and driven in 28 in 21 games... Jeremiah Parker is hitting at a .384 clip, well above his season average. Parker has recorded a team-leading 33 RBI in league play with 10 doubles and 26 runs scored... A.J. Wirnsberger has hit 10 home runs and driven in 29... In fact, six of the starters are averaging more than 1.0 RBI per game and seven starters are above 1.0 runs scored... The Eagles have scored 10-plus runs in at least one game of every SoCon series... Drew Murray (LaGrange/LaGrange) owns a 7.12 ERA but is 6-1 in seven starts with 35 strikeouts in 36.2 innings.

GETTING DEFENSIVE: Georgia Southern brings a .968 fielding percentage into the weekend, second-best mark in the Southern Conference and 61st nationally (11 points shy of the leader).

Category: Baseball

Published on Thursday, 08 May 2008 00:27