Baseball Walks Off in the 11th Against Charleston Southern

STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team (26-19) survived a wild extra-inning affair and walked off with a 13-12 win over Charleston Southern (22-23) in the 11th inning. 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.

Georgia Southern won its first extra-inning game of the year in the longest contest of 2011.

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.

Lost in the shuffle of the walk-off hit were the back-to-back hits by Scooter Williams (Detroit, Mich.) and Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.). Down to the last out and down two runs, Williams singled up the middle to put a runner on base, before Burruss sent a line drive over the right-field wall to tie the game at 12-12.

Charlie McCready (L, 4-2) came on in relief of Brennan Dorsett, who allowed three runs over 2.2 innings, and worked out of a jam in the 10th inning after allowing a leadoff double to Owens. After an intentional walk to Steve Cochrane (Mooresville, N.C.), McCready stranded the runner at second with three-straight outs. He nearly did the same in the 11th before Owens came up with the two-out hit.

Georgia Southern trailed 2-1 early in the game, but a six-run fourth inning put the Eagles on top 7-2. Charleston Southern got three runs back in the top of the sixth before GSU got a run back in the bottom half to lead 8-5 after six full innings. A combined 11 runs crossed the plate in the final three frames and the game went to extra innings tied at 12-12.

The Eagles batted around in the fourth inning to score nearly half of their 13 runs. Three unearned runs and a pair of two-RBI doubles scored the six runs. Ben Morgan (Evans, Ga.) drove in the first two runs in the inning with a double down the left-field line before a third run scored on a sacrifice fly by Brent Pugh (Atlanta, Ga.). After a pair of errors by the first baseman, Victor Roache (Ypsilanti, Mich.) plated two more runs with the second double of the inning.

Georgia Southern manufactured a single run in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. A wild pitch, sacrifice bunt and a fielder's choice drove in the three runs.

The Eagles added a two-out run back in the first inning on RBI-single by Roache. Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.), who scored the run in the sixth inning, doubled with two outs for GSU's first hit of the game.

Georgia Southern continues the homestand this weekend with a three-game Southern Conference series against Wofford. The series opens Friday night at 7 p.m. and will be a part of Baseball Alumni Weekend. The Wall of Fame Ceremony, inducting Julio Ayala and Brett Lewis, proceeds game two in the series at 10 a.m. with first pitch set for 2:30 p.m. The series finale is set for 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

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 Wednesday, 04 May 2011 22:25