Eagles Fall to Georgia Tech

STATESBORO, Ga. – Phillip Porter (Marietta/Sprayberry) and David Richardson (Dahlonega/Lumpkin County) finished with three hits apiece but it was not enough to overcome two Georgia Tech grand slams as Georgia Southern dropped a 14-8 decision to the 21st-ranked Yellow Jackets Wednesday (April 16) at J.I. Clements Stadium.

The Yellow Jackets jumped on Michael Hester (Evans/Greenbrier) early using a one-out walk in the first then homer by Derek Dietrich to take a 2-0 lead.

Ty Wright (Montrose/West Laurens) reached on a fielder’s choice for the second out in the third inning. Porter lined a single off pitcher Deck McGuire then Chris Shehan (Strasburg, PA/Lampeter-Strasburg) drew his second walk of the game to load the bases. Griffin Benedict (Dunwoody/St. Pius) got ahead in the count but lined out to right field.

Tech put the first two runners of the fifth on board thanks to a single and catcher’s interference. After a flyball out advanced the runners, GS decided to intentionally walk Tony Plagman to set up a force play. Brad Feltes made them pay, hitting his third grand slam of the year for a 6-0 lead. The Eagles (18-17 overall) cut the deficit in half during their half of the frame.

Wright hit a leadoff double then scored two batters later on Shehan’s RBI single. Benedict dropped a single into shallow right field. Jeremiah Parker (Carrollton/Carrollton) lined a shot up the middle but it went under the glove of Dietrich at shortstop allowing a run to score. Two batters later Richardson reached on an infield single to load the bases. On a 3-2 pitch to Brian Pierce (Roswell/Roswell), McGuire tried a pickoff move to second but was called for a balk, which allowed another run to score.

Tech (27-10) scored a run in the sixth and Murton hit a solo homer in the seventh. During the eighth, Tech put the first three runners on base and Murton hit a grand slam for a 12-3 lead.

The Eagles got those runs back in the eighth. Matt Miller (Canton/Woodstock), making his first appearance in a month due to an injury, drew a leadoff walk. Kyle Blackburn (Marietta/Walton) hit a pinch-hit single then Wright walked to load the bases. Porter lined a 2-run single down the right field line then Shehan followed with a RBI single. Benedict advanced the runners then Will Southwell (Moultrie/Colquitt County) hit a high chopper for an infield RBI single. A.J. Wirnsberger (Tuscaloosa, AL/Paul Bear Bryant) lined a sacrifice fly to make it 12-8.

Dietrich added a 2-run double in the ninth for the final margin.

“We gave up 11 free bases tonight (7 walks and 4 hit batters) and you’re not going to put your team in a good position to win a game doing that,” said Eagles head coach Rodney Hennon. “We missed on some early opportunities, but I thought our guys played hard right to the end. We have to come out and try to put it all together starting Friday night (at Davidson).”

Hester (1-1) suffered the loss, allowing two runs on two hits in two innings. Burt Barto (Columbus/Columbus) pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, allowing just one single.

Porter drove in two runs and scored once. Shehan had two hits, two walks, two RBI and two runs scored. Wright had a pair of doubles and scored twice. Benedict had a hit, scored a run and threw out two runners trying to steal.

The Eagles stranded 12 runners in the game – nine combined in the 3rd-6th innings.

McGuire (6-0) gave up three runs on eight hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out two. Tech’s 1-4 hitters combined for 10 hits, 10 RBI and 12 runs scored.

Georgia Southern resumes Southern Conference play Friday night (April 18) with a three-game series at Davidson. First pitch is scheduled for 7.

Category: Baseball

Published on Wednesday, 16 April 2008 00:02