Eagles Drop Finale at Charleston

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – Georgia Southern jumped out to an early lead but the College of Charleston scored six unanswered runs as the Eagles dropped the series finale 7-6 at Patriots Point Sunday afternoon (March 30).

The Eagles jumped out front plating four runs in the first. Ty Wright (Montrose/West Laurens) drew a leadoff walk. Phillip Porter (Marietta/Sprayberry) hit a grounder to third baseman Jeremie Tice. His throw down to second went wide as both runners were safe. Chris Shehan (Strasburg, PA/Lampeter-Strasburg) lined a RBI single. Griffin Benedict (Dunwoody/St. Pius) sacrificed both runners into scoring position.

Jeremiah Parker (Carrollton/Carrollton) ripped a 2-run double over the head of right fielder Gabe Marchant. He advanced to third on a throwing error and scored on A.J. Wirnsberger’s (Tuscaloosa, AL/Paul Bear Bryant) double down the left field line, which extended his hitting streak to 11 games.

Joash Brodin hit a leadoff single in the first. Marchant singled to right. Brodin tried for third but Shehan’s throw to Wirnsberger nailed him in plenty of time for the first out. That proved to save a run as the Cougars used a two-out hit from Tice to score a run. Andy Moye (Alpharetta/Alpharetta) struck out Brandon Sizemore to end the threat.

GS got that run back in its half of the second. Shehan delivered a RBI groundout scoring Jeremy Beckham (Griffin/Griffin). During the fourth GS loaded the bases again. Benedict hit a grounder up the middle that shortstop Mike Hentz could not handle to allow another run across for a 6-1 lead.

Brodin brought home a run in the fifth inning on a groundout. Marchant followed with a 2-run homer to make it a 6-4 game.

Charleston threatened in the sixth to tie the game. Stuart Haywood hit a RBI single then a walk put the tying run in scoring position. Head coach Rodney Hennon brought in Justin Davis (Pulaksi/Metter). The redshirt-freshman got out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts on the number nine and leadoff hitters.

In the seventh, Davis gave up a one-out single. He struck out Michael Harrington on a called third strike. However, Tice hit a shot down the right field line. Shehan gave chase and it deflected off his glove right near the line. The umpires ruled it a fair ball and that tied the score. Sizemore hit a shot into the left field gap that tailed away from Porter. It hit off his glove for an error which brought home the eventual game-winner.

Moye allowed five runs on eight hits in 5.1 innings. He walked three and struck out three. Davis (1-2) was the hard-luck loser, charged for two runs (one earned) on three hits in 2.1 innings. He struck out five and walked one.

Wright and Shehan finished with two hits apiece. Shehan had two RBI as did Parker. Beckham extended his hitting streak to 11 games and Wright reached double-digits now at 10.

Marchant finished with four hits in the game. Casey Lucchese (3-1) picked up the win getting two outs in the seventh. Jesse Simpson pitched two hitless innings for his fourth save.

Georgia Southern travels to North Florida Tuesday night (April 1), first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. The Eagles then return to J.I. Clements Stadium for a midweek game on Wednesday against Kennesaw State at 4 p.m.

Category: Baseball

Published on Sunday, 30 March 2008 00:25