Baseball Hits the Road for Five Games Along I-20

STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team (11-5, 3-0) travels to Atlanta Tuesday for the start of five games along the I-20 corridor and will face Georgia Tech (12-4, 3-0 ACC) and Samford (11-6, 3-0) this week. The week starts with a pair of games against the Yellow Jackets on Tuesday at 6 p.m. and Wednesday at 4 p.m. before continuing down I-20 to Birmingham for the weekend series against the Bulldogs.

GSU moved into a tie for first place in the Southern Conference with a weekend sweep of Furman. The sweep of the Paladins capped off a stellar week for the Eagles, who also shut out #1 Florida on Tuesday. Georgia Southern also moved into first place in the league in batting average, on-base percentage and hits. The Eagle pitching staff currently ranks third with a 3.38 ERA and leads the league in runners picked off.

Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.), Ben Morgan (Evans, Ga.) and Andy Moye (Alpharetta, Ga.) all had great weeks at the plate for Georgia Southern, while the trio of pitchers who face the Gators, Chris Beck (Jefferson, Ga.), Josh Adams (Bath, S.C.) and Matt Murray (Spring City, Pa.), were all great on the mound.

Phillips reached base in 10-straight plate appearances between Saturday and Sunday's games with Furman. The junior captain hit .588 (10-17) with a double and five RBIs last week. Morgan singled three times and reached base on an error, scoring two runs in the win over Florida. The freshman infielder had multiple hits in every game last week. Moye hit two home runs against Furman and picked up six hits in 12 at-bats last week. The senior captain also scored the winning run against the Gators.

The trio of Beck, Adams and Murray combined for a four-hit shutout of top-ranked Florida. Beck struck out four batters and allowed only one hit in his first start of the week. The sophomore pitcher picked up his second win of the season in the series opener with the Paladins, allowing one run in seven innings of work. Adams earned two wins on the week, including the victory over Florida. Murray pitched the final four innings, striking out five batters en route to the save.

Georgia Tech has won seven-straight games, including a sweep of Maryland in the opening week of Atlantic Coast Conference play. The Yellow Jackets are 11-3 at home in Russ Chandler Stadium. Kyle Wren leads Tech at the plate with a.438 batting average in 16 games this season. Daniel Palka leads the team with five home runs and 15 RBIs.

Samford is coming off a weekend sweep of The Citadel. The Bulldogs rallied in all three games in Charleston, S.C., to take the series victory. Michael Johnson is hitting a team-best .444 with a homer and 12 RBIs on the season. Lex Rutledge, who was tabbed by Baseball America as the Preseason Pitcher of the Year in the SoCon, has rebounded from a shaky start to his season and is now 3-1 with a 3.04 ERA in five starts.

All games can be heard on Eagle 102.9 FM in Statesboro and are also available online at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/Eaglevision beginning 30 minutes prior to first pitch. Ryan Chambers of the Georgia Southern Radio Network will call all the action.

Fans may follow Georgia Southern Baseball by visiting GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/baseball or check in at twitter.com/GSAthletics or facebook.com/GSAthletics for short updates.

Category: Baseball

Published on Monday, 14 March 2011 14:21