Baseball Holds On to Sweep Wofford

Box Score | Video: Post Game with Coach Hennon

STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern scored five runs in the fifth inning and held on to a three-run lead to defeat Wofford 7-4 and sweep the first Southern Conference series of the year.

Georgia Southern (9-6, 3-0) took a 6-0 lead behind a strong outing from starter Justin Hess (1-2). Hess tossed five scoreless innings to earn his 10th career win. The senior righthander allowed just four hits and a walk a day after recording his first career save.

“It is hard to sweep, and it certainly wasn't easy today,” Head Coach Rodney Hennon said after his Eagles picked up their first series win over Wofford since 2010. “Justin got us off to a great start. We were very fortunate to have gotten very good starting pitching all three games this weekend. He put us in position to win the game.”

Wofford (7-9, 0-3) rallied back to within two runs with a four-run sixth, but Matt McCall (S, 2) held the Terriers scoreless for the final 1.1 innings to pick up his second save. Luke Leftwich (1-1) was tagged with the loss after giving up six runs on six hits. Leftwich allowed three walks and struck out five batters over 4.1 innings.

The Eagles finished with 10 hits and got multi-hit performances from Chase Griffin, Robbie Dodds and Arthur Owens. All three drove in two runs each, and Dodds and Brent Pugh hit home runs. Wofford had four players with two hits and finished with 12 hits. Josh Hyman plated three runs with a home run in the sixth inning.

After scoring a single run in the first inning, Georgia Southern struck for five runs in the fifth inning. Pugh led off the inning with his first career home run, and Griffin plated the second run of the inning with a single. Dodds drove in Griffin two batters later with a base hit through the left side of the infield. Owens plated the final two runs with a base hit to center field.

After the Eagles went to the bullpen to start the sixth inning, Wofford sent eight batters to the plate to score four runs. The first two batters reached base to start the inning, and Hyman drove both in with a home run. With runners on the corners, Matthew Pelt pushed a bunt down the first base line to score Matthew Ramsay from third base.

Over the final three innings, the Georgia Southern bullpen held the Terriers to one run. Before allowing a run in the eighth inning, Chris Myers worked out of a bases loaded jam in the seventh. Myers got a force out at home plate and a strikeout of Ramsay to end the inning.

Baseball opens a five-game road swing Tuesday at Mercer before traveling to Samford for a three-game weekend series. All five road contests can be heard on the Georgia Southern Radio Network or online at gseagles.com/watch-listen.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its new "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.

Category: Baseball

Published on Sunday, 10 March 2013 17:02