Georgia Southern Wins SoCon Opener, Beats Western 19-10

STATESBORO, Ga. – A.J. Wirnsberger (Tuscaloosa, AL/Paul Bear Bryant) hit a grand slam during a five-run second inning as Georgia Southern rolled to a 19-10 win over Western Carolina Friday night (March 21) at J.I. Clements Stadium. It was the Southern Conference opener for both teams.

The Eagles (12-8 overall, 1-0 SoCon) jumped on Western early, scoring four runs in the first. Ty Wright (Montrose/West Laurens) fell behind in the count but battled back to draw a leadoff walk. Phillip Porter (Marietta/Sprayberry) walked then Chris Shehan (Strasburg, PA/Lampeter-Strasburg) singled to load the bases.

Griffin Benedict (Dunwoody/St. Pius) hit a 2-run single up the middle. Jeremiah Parker (Carrollton/Carrollton) brought home another run on a groundout then David Richardson (Dahlonega/Lumpkin County) hit a sacrifice fly as the Eagles would bat around.

Western (6-12, 0-1) cut into the Eagles’ lead hitting a sacrifice fly in the second. However, GS used the long ball to extend its lead all coming with two outs.

Porter reached on a fielder’s choice, Shehan singled and Parker was hit by a pitch. With two outs Wirnsberger hammered a 1-0 pitch over the fence in left field, his second grand slam this season and fifth home run overall. Richardson followed two pitches later with a solo shot to the left field gap. His fourth homer this season (all in his last four games played) matched his previous three-year total.

Drew Murray (LaGrange/LaGrange) walked the first two batters of the fourth inning, but battled back getting consecutive batters out on a called third strike. However, Brent Greer drilled a 3-run shot to centerfield, making it 9-4. J.C. Lyons added a solo shot in the fifth.

The Eagles chalked up three runs in the fifth and five more in the sixth to put the game out of reach. Porter extended his hitting streak to a team season-high 14 games thanks to a RBI single. Shehan followed with a 2-run double.

During the sixth Jeremy Beckham (Griffin/Griffin) hit a RBI single then Wright followed with a sacrifice fly. From there with two outs Benedict, Parker and pinch-hitter Will Southwell (Moultrie/Colquitt County) all hit consecutive RBI singles, extending the lead to 17-5.

Blake Murphy hit a 2-run shot in the eighth then Shaft added a RBI groundout but the Eagles scored two more times in their half. Parker hit a sacrifice fly then Richardson drew a bases loaded walk to make it 19-9. The Catamounts added a sac fly for the final margin.

Shehan finished with four hits and matched his career-high of four runs scored. Porter recorded two hits and four runs scored. Benedict drove in three as did Parker and Richardson. Seven starters in all had at least two hits. Beckham, one of five seniors on the team, had only two hits in his career against the Catamounts (2-for-22) and matched that total in one game.

“The key for us tonight was to be aggressive early, get good pitches to hit early in the count and try not to miss them,” said Beckham. “You always want to score early and get into the other team’s bullpen. If you do that then you’ve got a really good chance to put a lot of runs on the board.”

Murray (2-0) allowed five runs (four earned) on five hits in five innings. He walked four and struck out five.

Tyler Sexton fell to 0-3 allowing 12 runs (11 earned) on 10 hits in 4.1 innings. Greer and Lyons had three hits apiece.

Category: Baseball

Published on Friday, 21 March 2008 00:20