Wofford Comes to Town for First of Two Home SoCon Baseball Series

STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team (26-19, 13-8) plays host to Wofford (19-26, 6-15) in the first of two-straight Southern Conference series at J.I. Clements Stadium. The Eagles send Chris Beck (Jefferson, Ga.) (6-2, 3.19 ERA), Justin Hess (Panama City, Fla.) (2-2, 6.86 ERA) and Joe Lower (West Palm Beach, Fla.) (0-1, 4.76 ERA) to the mound, while the Terriers will counter with Cash Collins (7-2, 3.21 ERA), Tom Dolinak (3-5, 5.23 ERA) and a starter to be named later this weekend.

First pitch in the series is set for 7 p.m. on Friday night. The Eagles will induct two former players, Julio Ayala and Brett Lewis, into the Wall of Fame on Saturday at 10 a.m. as a part of the Baseball Alumni Weekend. Fans of the program are invited to attend the ceremony at J.I. Clements Stadium to honor the careers of these two Eagle greats. Games two and three in the series will be Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m., respectively.

Georgia Southern is hitting .306 as a team and are led by Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) at the plate. Phillips leads the SoCon with a .429 batting average and a .500 on-base percentage. Victor Roache (Ypsilanti, Mich.) leads the conference in home runs and is a top the national race with 23 long balls this season.

Matt Murray (Spring City, Pa.) highlights a Georgia Southern pitching staff that has posted a 4.57 ERA as a squad this year. Murray ranks tops in the Southern Conference in ERA (1.37) and opposing batting average (.164). Led by Beck's 6-2 mark, three Eagle pitchers have tallied five wins or more this year.

The Terriers are hitting over .276 as a team and sport a 5.27 ERA on the mound. Clark Wise leads the team with a.342 batting average and is one of four Wofford players with a batting average above .300. Mac Doyle has over half of the Terriers' 16 home runs and leads the squad with 42 RBIs. Cash Collins has been a staple in Wofford's rotation with a 7-2 record and a 3.21 ERA in 11 starts this year.

GSU survived a wild extra-inning affair and walked off with a 13-12 win in the 11th inning in its midweek game against Charleston Southern Wednesday. Georgia Southern won its first extra-inning game of the year in the longest contest of 2011. A pair of late-inning defensive replacements proved key in the victory. Arthur Owens (Fayetteville, Ga.) drove in the game-winning run with a single back up the middle. Stryker Brown (Dalton, Ga.), who entered the game at third base in the 10th, doubled to lead off the inning and scored the winning run for the Eagles.

Taylor Burke (Statesboro, Ga.) and Josh Adams (Bath, S.C.) combined for two scoreless frames in extra innings. Burke allowed a one-out hit, but coaxed one of four GSU double plays, the most since April 18, 2010 against Samford, to end the inning. Adams (W, 6-6) retired the side in order in the 11th with three ground outs to setup the theatrics in the bottom half of the inning.

A number of student appreciation events will be going on this weekend. Friday night is Couples Night with the chance to win a dinner for two at 119 Chops and a Frazier Flowers' bouquet. Saturday will be Beach Day and the first 200 fans will receive a beach ball from Domino's Pizza. Two gift certificates to The Sir Shop will also be awarded to the best dressed students at the game. On Sunday a  Verizon Motorola Droid X drawing will send one lucky fan home with a new phone. Fans can sign up all weekend for the drawing at tables located near the student and main gates.

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 Thursday, 05 May 2011 17:12