Parker, Murray Lead Eagles to Win at Davidson

DAVIDSON, N.C. – Jeremiah Parker (Carrollton/Carrollton) drove in a career-high five runs and Drew Murray (LaGrange/LaGrange) won his team-leading fifth game as Georgia Southern defeated Davidson 10-4 Friday night (April 18) in Southern Conference play. The Eagles improved to 19-17 overall and 6-7 in the SoCon.

Ty Wright (Montrose/West Laurens) hammered the first pitch of the game over the left field fence. His fifth leadoff home run this year (one in each SoCon series this year) was his 10th overall.

Davidson got a RBI single from Danny Weiss on a hit-and-run in the first. A walk eventually loaded the bases. Murray got Chris FitzPatrick on an infield fly for the second out. Tommy Piacenza hit a grounder to Jeremy Beckham (Griffin/Griffin), who looked to tag the runner going to second but the third base umpire ruled the runner safe giving Davidson a 2-1 lead.

Wright smoked a ball under the glove of third baseman FitzPatrick. After two quick outs, Benedict looked to have grounded out to end the inning, but the home plate umpire ruled catcher’s interference giving the Eagles new life. Parker made the Wildcats pay. He delivered the first pitch from Thomas Middour to the left field gap, putting the Eagles ahead 4-2.

Chris Shehan (Strasburg, PA/Lampeter-Strasburg) drew a one-out walk in the fifth. He stole second and scored on Parker’s RBI single.

Zach Kayne drew a leadoff walk in the fifth and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Murray picked up two quick outs but hit a batter. FitzPatrick lined a RBI single to cut the Eagles’ lead to 5-3. Another walk loaded the bases but Murray struck out Jay Honeycutt for the final out.

GS manufactured another run in the sixth. David Richardson (Dahlonega/Lumpkin County) drew a leadoff walk. He stole second, advanced to third on Brian Pierce’s (Roswell/Roswell) sacrifice bunt then scored on Beckham’s sacrifice fly.

In the seventh, Shehan reached on a leadoff walk. Griffin Benedict (Dunwoody/St. Pius) was hit by a pitch during the next at-bat. Shehan stole third base and scored when Parker set his career-high RBI total on a sacrifice fly.

Pierce and Beckham reached to start the eighth. Pierce walked, stole second then went to third on Beckham’s bunt single. Beckham stole second and both scored on Wright’s 2-run double. The junior DH came around to score on Benedict’s two-out single.

Davidson (9-23, 1-12) scored one in the ninth for the final margin.

Parker took full advantage of new life in the third.

“I was actually trying to get a good pitch to hit. The ball was down but I took a good swing and was able to get a good piece of it,” said Parker. “It was really good to get some run support for our pitching staff tonight. This is a real big win, especially breaking the three game losing streak. Hopefully we can come out tomorrow and go for the series win.”

Parker had two hits and five RBI, breaking his previous best of four on two occasions. Wright tallied two hits, three runs scored and three RBI. A.J. Wirnsberger (Tuscaloosa, AL/Paul Bear Bryant) and Beckham had two hits apiece. Shehan walked twice and scored twice.

Murray improved to 5-1, allowing three runs on five hits in five innings. He struck out four. Charlie Strohecker (Marietta/Walton) and Tony Chisman (Conyers/Salem) combined for one hit in three scoreless innings.

Hugh Eden and Weiss had three hits apiece. Middour (2-2) was charged for six runs – three earned – on eight hits in five innings.

Game two of the series is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday (April 19).

Category: Baseball

Published on Friday, 18 April 2008 00:11