Baseball Begins SoCon Play This Weekend
3/19/2008 4:04:00 AM | Baseball
STATESBORO,
The third installment of the Clements Tailgate takes place prior to Saturday's game. Subway will be sponsoring the Tailgate, free to fans prior to the 2:30 p.m. start.
Fans can listen to every
The Eagles (11-8 overall) and Catamounts (6-11) faced each other last year on the final weekend of conference play. Western, the defending regular season co-champion, took 2-of-3 but the Eagles eliminated WCU in the Southern Conference Tournament.
Three times in the last four games GS recorded at least 20 hits and 17 runs scored. A NCAA record 14 home runs were hit in the first game of that stretch against
Eight starters are batting .290 or better. In fact, 12 Eagles who have started a game are batting at least .290 this year.
Phillip Porter (Marietta/Sprayberry) extended his hitting streak to a team season-high 13 games. The junior outfielder owns a .422 batting average with 17 runs scored, three home runs, 16 RBI and a .486 on-base percentage.
Chris Shehan (Strasburg, PA/Lampeter-Strasburg), the reigning SoCon ?Player of the Week' and one of eight ?National Players of the Week' by Collegiate Baseball, continues to lead the squad in several categories. The junior outfielder paces the offense in: batting average (.432), runs scored (27), doubles (7), home runs (8), slugging percentage (.878), on-base percentage (.558), stolen bases (10-of-10) and walks (17).
Among the SoCon leaders, Shehan is tied for first in home runs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and total bases, second in stolen bases, third in batting average and runs scored, then fourth in walks and RBI.
Aaron Eubanks (Moultrie/Colquitt County), Drew Murray (LaGrange/LaGrange) and Andy Moye (Alpharetta/Alpharetta) are probable starters for the series.
Eubanks is 2-1 with a 7.58 ERA in 19 innings. The senior left-hander has struck out 13 and walked seven.
Western dropped its second straight game, losing 8-3 at
Brent Greer (.388, 13 RBI) and Nick Liles (.380, 15 runs scored, 9 doubles) pace the offensive attack. Tyler Kirkpatrick had 19 RBI and a team-leading six home runs. J.C. Lyons (.254, 18 RBI) and Blake Murphy (.250, 16 RBI) recorded five home runs each. Drew Saberhagen (0-2, 5.09) has made five starts this year while Tyler Sexton (0-2, 9.70 ERA) and Garrett Ozar (2-1, 6.94) started four times apiece.
