GEORGIA SOUTHERN EAGLES (22-18, 7-8 SoCON)
at WOFFORD TERRIERS (20-22, 4-11 SoCON)
Friday, April 25 ? 7 p.m. ? Spartanburg, S.C. (Russell C. King Field)
Saturday, April 26 ? 4 p.m. ? Spartanburg, S.C. (Russell C. King Field)
Sunday, April 27 ? 1 p.m. ? Spartanburg, S.C. (Russell C. King Field)
All-Time Series: GS leads 21-10
Last Year: GS swept series at J.I. Clements Stadium
Fri: Drew Murray (Jr, RHP) 5-1, 7.42 vs. Scott Summers (Jr, RHP) 5-5, 4.48
Sat: Kyle Kamppi (Jr, RHP) 3-2, 5.40 vs. Ben Austin (Sr, RHP) 4-3, 5.98
Sun: Andy Moye (R-Fr, RHP) 2-4, 6.70 vs. Tom Dolinak (So, RHP) 2-0, 6.35
HENNON HITS ONE MILESTONE, NEARS ANOTHER: Georgia Southern head coach Rodney Hennon won his 300th career game as the Eagles head coach in early March (ninth year at GSU). The win came during the 12-3 victory over #15 Michigan at the Keith LeClair Classic... He owns a .604 winning percentage as Georgia Southern's head coach... Hennon now needs TWO wins to record his 400th as a collegiate head coach.
SCOUTING THE TERRIERS: Wofford entertains Georgia Southern this weekend looking to end a five-game losing streak... The Terriers have lost nine of their last 10 (def. Presbyterian 10-2) and 13 of their last 16... Wofford has scored only one run in three of the last five losses... Overall the Terriers own a .296 team batting average, .959 fielding percentage and 5.72 ERA... Wofford ranks 39th nationally in doubles per game, 32nd in slugging percentage and 26th in home runs (28 shy of the Eagles in second place)... Wofford played 22 of its first 23 games this year at home, posting a 15-8 record... Jake Williams leads the offense batting .374 with 11 doubles and eight homers... Shane Kirkley leads in home runs (12) and RBI (41) while batting .320... Scott Summers has won a staff-high five games (5-5) with a 4.48 ERA in 60.1 innings... Ben Austin (4-3, 5.98) is scheduled to throw game two with Tom Dolinak (2-0, 6.35) going on Sunday... The Eagles have won five of the last six meeting against Wofford.
EAGLES SOAR PAST NORTH FLORIDA: Georgia Southern fell two hits shy of tying the single-game record, banging out 25 hits in a 17-4 win over North Florida... David Richardson (Dahlonega/Lumpkin County) finished a career-best 5-for-5, reaching base in all six plate appearances. He scored three runs... Griffin Benedict (Dunwoody/St. Pius) added four hits and two RBI... Ty Wright (Montrose/West Laurens) hit two doubles with two runs scored and two RBI... Phillip Porter (Marietta/Sprayberry) and Chris Shehan (Strasburg, PA/Lampeter-Strasburg) added three hits and three runs scored apiece... Shehan and Jeremiah Parker (Carrollton/Carrollton) drove in three runs apiece... Kevin Bowles (Statesboro/Statesboro) matched a career-high of two hits, getting his second career start at second base... A.J. Wirnsberger (Tuscaloosa, AL/Paul Bear Bryant) also had two hits... Burt Barto (Columbus/Columbus) matched a season-high of 3.1 innings pitched to earn his second win of the year... Trent Franzago (Byron/Peach County), A.J. Gilbert (Marietta/Kell) and Charlie Strohecker (Alpharetta/Milton) all turned in a shutout performance from the bullpen in support... The Eagles batted around in the fourth and fifth innings.
EAGLES WIN IN EXTRA: Georgia Southern pulled out a 6-4 win in 11 innings to defeat Kennesaw State for the first time in four attempts... Ty Wright delivered three hits (two doubles), including a 2-run double in the 11th that proved to be the game-winner... Phillip Porter and David Richardson had two hits apiece... With the bases loaded Will Southwell (Moultrie/Colquitt County) made a diving stop and got the force out to keep two if not all three runs from scoring, maintaining the two run lead... Kennesaw sent it into extra innings, staging a two-out rally in the ninth... Blake Nation (Brooks/Starr's Mill) threw a career-high four innings and struck out a career-best six batters to pick up the win... Starter Aaron Eubanks (Moultrie/Colquitt County) gave up two runs in four innings... Justin Davis (Pulaksi/Metter) and A.J. Gilbert pitched a scoreless inning of relief.
RECORD HOME RUN PACE: Georgia Southern has hit 77 home runs through 40 games. The Eagles had led the nation but remains second this week... GS currently stands in fifth place on the season ?Top 10' list, two away from third place and 11 shy of tying the record... Chris Shehan (twice), Griffin Benedict (twice), A.J. Wirnsberger (twice), Kyle Blackburn (Marietta/Walton) and Jeremiah Parker and have all hit two homers in a game this year... Four players currently rank among the ?Top 105' individuals in the nation for number of home runs hit... Shehan is six off the national pace. The last Eagle to lead the nation in home runs was Tommy Peterman hitting 26 in 1996.
HOME RUNS
1. 88 ..................... 1990
2. 87 ..................... 1986
3. 80 ..................... 1984
4. 78 ..................... 1983
5. 77...................... 2008
SEEING DOUBLE: In addition to the home runs, Georgia Southern could also break the single-season doubles record... Currently with 111, the Eagles are 12 away from 10th place and 44 shy of the record. Last year the team finished with the second-most doubles (143)... Six players are currently in double-figures and another has nine.
.300 IN THE LINEUP: Georgia Southern is proving there is no easy out in its line-up... The current .345 team batting average would be the second-highest average on record... Seven starters are hitting .300 or better... The offense is also on pace to crack the season ?Top 10' in several other categories.
EAGLE SLUGGERS: With the success of scoring runs and hitting extra-base hits, it's no surprise that the Eagles are second nationally in slugging percentage (.582)... They are 12 points behind leader College of Charleston... Chris Shehan ranks fifth at .844 while Ty Wright jumped up to 12th at a .796 clip.
STOP THIEF: Through 40 games, the Eagles have stolen 87-of-103 bases, an average of 2.18 per game. However, they stepped up the pace over the past 13 games stealing 38-of-46... Three times this season the Eagles stole seven bases (Towson, Appalachian State and Davidson)... Career ?Top 10' member Jeremy Beckham (Griffin/Griffin) improved to 23-of-26. Chris Shehan is close behind at 18-of-19. Phillip Porter is next with eight steals followed by Ty Wright at 7-of-9.
SIX HIT DOUBLE-DIGITS: Six different Georgia Southern players have recorded a double-digit hitting streak... A.J. Wirnsberger saw his 13-game hitting streak end during game one at Elon... Ty Wright also had his 12-game hitting streak end at Elon... Phillip Porter holds the team lead posting a 15-game streak... Chris Shehan and Jeremy Beckham strung together an 11-game stretch while Kyle Blackburn had a 10-game streak to kick off the season.
MORE SCORING NOTES: GS is 21-0 when leading after seven innings... The Eagles won their first game when scoring 6-9 runs (6-4 win at Kennesaw State)... The Eagles are 16-2 when hitting two or more home runs... When scoring 10 or more runs GS is 19-1... Out of 10 frames, GS is only getting outscored in two (seventh and ninth inning).
ERA ON THE DECLINE: Georgia Southern's pitching staff has seen the ERA on the decline over the past couple of weeks... Over the past 10 games, the staff has allowed five or fewer earned runs eight times... The current 6.67 is the lowest team ERA total to date this year.
FIELDING PERCENTAGE ON THE RISE: Georgia Southern has committed only three errors over the past six games. That improved the team fielding percentage mark to .969 (second-best in the Southern Conference and 61st nationally).
50-50 CLUB MEMBER... AGAIN: For the second time in his career, Chris Shehan joined the Georgia Southern 50/50 club (50 runs scored and 50 RBI in a season). That marks 41 times an Eagle accomplished the feat. Shehan joined with last year's 59 runs scored and 50 RBI... Currently with 60 runs scored and 56 RBI, Shehan is four runs driven in from joining the 60/60 club (15 times in program history).
SHEHAN LEADS THE WAY: Chris Shehan continues to put up All-America worthy numbers this season... The junior outfielder paces the offense in: batting average (.462), runs scored (60), home runs (14), slugging percentage (.840), on-base percentage (.582) and walks (39) while standing second hitting 13 doubles.
SHEHAN FINALIST FOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Chris Shehan was named one of 50 finalists for the 2008 Dick Howser Trophy Watch List. The National Player of the Year Award, sponsored by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). The NCBWA membership will conduct three rounds of voting to choose the national award winner. Shehan is one of two players from the Southern Conference named... This week Shehan was ranked among the ?Top 25' nationally in eight different categories, including a top ranking in on-base percentage... His 14 home runs surpass his previous two year total... Shehan's current .462 season batting average would tie Derrell Baker for first place.
WRIGHT WAY TO LEADOFF: Junior Ty Wright has continued to flourish this year, especially in the leadoff spot... Of his 11 home runs, seven have started an inning and six led off a game. Those six leadoff home runs are thought to be a Georgia Southern record... Wright has hit a leadoff home run in at least one game of every Southern Conference series this year... He owns a .398 batting average with 42 runs scored (2nd on team), 15 doubles and 30 RBI... Wright has 20 walks and seven hit by pitches to only 18 Ks, posting a .500 on-base percentage.
- - Leadoff Home Runs - -
? Western Carolina game 3 (W 15-12)
? at Charleston game 2 (L 4-5)
? at Elon game 3 (L 8-12)
? Appalachian State game 1 (W 13-6)
? Davidson game 1 (W 10-4)
? Davidson game 2 (W 20-2)
DOUBLING THE WRIGHT WAY: Junior Ty Wright continues to assault the pitching from the leadoff spot. Over the past six games, Wright has hit nine doubles to move into the team lead with 15. The junior DH has hit two doubles in four games during that span... Helping Georgia Southern to a 4-1 record over its last five games, Wright has scored seven runs, hit two homers and driven in 12 runs, good for a 1.043 slugging percentage.
IRON MAN: Brian Pierce (Roswell/Roswell) extended his consecutive games started streak to 151 games. The junior sat out the first seven games of his freshman year, came into the next game as a defensive replacement, started the next and has not been out of the starting line-up since... He recorded his second career home run, a 3-run shot on his 21st birthday, during game two against Columbia... The junior shortstop, tied for fourth on the team with 11 doubles, owns a career .945 fielding percentage.
BECKHAM IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Senior second baseman Jeremy Beckham again holds the team lead in stolen bases, swiping 23-of-26 this year. He improved his career numbers to 58-of-65 steals. Beckham passed Mike Yuro and Carl Gardner for ninth place on the GS career ?Top 10' list. Up next is Rocky Baker with 61 steals... Beckham jumped his season batting average up to .339 with 31 runs and 17 RBI.
WIRNSBERGER OWNS THE HOT CORNER: Sophomore third baseman A.J. Wirnsberger enters this weekend hitting .301 with 42 runs scored (T-2nd on team), 43 RBI (3rd) and 13 home runs (2nd)... Wirnsberger is in the process of leading the team in hit by a pitch (11) for the second straight year... Wirnsberger hit his first career grand slam during the Towson series then hit another against Western Carolina... He turned in his second career 2-HR game, accomplishing the feat against Kennesaw State. His third multi-HR game came during game two at Davidson, part of his 4-hit, 6-RBI game... Wirnsberger stands 5-for-5 in stolen bases.
PORTER ENJOYING CAREER YEAR: Phillip Porter continues his personal-best season at the plate. The junior outfielder ranks third on the team and sixth in the SoCon batting .382, thanks to seven multi-hit games in the last 10 contests... Earlier this year he recorded a team season-high 15-game hitting streak. Porter began the streak with a personal-best five hits, including a walk-off single against Towson... During his first two years he recorded 26 hits and has more than doubled that total this season with 55... Porter also ranks among the team leaders with: 36 runs scored, nine doubles, 30 RBI and eight stolen bases.
PARK IT: Senior Jeremiah Parker continues to stay hot at the plate... He got off to a cold start finishing the month of February hitting at a .217 clip with three RBI... During the month of March Parker hit nearly 80 points better... Helping Georgia Southern win four of its last five games, Parker is 8-for-20 (.450) at the plate with five runs scored and 11 RBI. He has hit four doubles, one homer and walked three times... Last year's home run leader, Parker now has eight homers including a 2-HR game in the Western Carolina finale in which he recorded nine RBI in the series... Overall Parker stands at .290 with 10 doubles, 33 runs scored and 42 RBI... In addition to his 29 career home runs, Parker has surpassed 100 career runs scored (112) and RBI (126).
BENEDICT BEHIND THE PLATE: Junior Griffin Benedict continues to impress both offensively and defensively. Benedict brings a .353 batting average into this weekend with 12 doubles, team-leading two triples and nine home runs. He has scored 37 runs and driven in 52. Benedict holds second place for the team RBI lead and ranks among the Southern Conference ?Top 5'... Behind the plate Benedict has posted a .976 fielding percentage and shares the team lead with three pickoffs.
RICH IN A PINCH: Senior David Richardson has made the most of his time in the starting line-up this year, starting the last 22 consecutive games... He made two pinch-hitting performances against Columbia and both times he hit a home run. Richardson had only four home runs during his previous three years... Earning his first start of the year (at Mercer), Richardson responded with another home run, part of his three hits and career-high five RBI effort... Richardson batted 5-for-11 in the Western Carolina series, but had his streak of a HR in five consecutive games come to an end... He set a career-high getting five hits against North Florida and reached base safely in all six plate appearances... The senior CF is currently riding a career-best six-game hitting streak (15-for-27) and scored at least one run in each of the last five games (7)... Richardson improved to .374 batting with 26 runs scored and 25 RBI... He has posted a .636 slugging percentage and stolen 7-of-9 bases (11-of-16 in his career)... Earlier this month Richardson was one of 14 Division I baseball players named Strength and Conditioning All-America.
STRIKEOUT LEADER: Drew Murray (LaGrange/LaGrange) improved to 5-1 after earning the win against Davidson to open the series... After three consecutive no-decisions to start the season Murray finally earned his first victory of the year defeating Columbia, followed by wins against Western Carolina, Charleston and Appalachian State... Arguably his best performance of the year came against Pittsburgh. Murray gave up two runs and fanned seven Panthers in 7.0 innings pitched... The seven innings and seven Ks both ranked as his second-highest numbers at Georgia Southern... Overall he leads the staff logging 47.1 innings and 43 strikeouts.
KAMPPING OUT: Kyle Kamppi (Savannah/Benedictine Academy) continues to excel as a starter. The junior right-hander fanned 36 in 36.2 innings so far as opponents are batting .289... Kamppi lost a 10-inning decision earlier this year at Georgia Tech but bounced back the next game earning the win against Towson... In his first GS start, Kamppi went four strong innings to defeat Mercer... A hard-luck loser against Charleston, Kamppi pitched well against Elon and Appalachian State, turning in career-highs of seven strikeouts in six innings pitched versus Appy... He picked up the win against Davidson, striking out six to no walks issued (second straight start doing so) in five innings of work.
BANK ON IT: Aaron Eubanks has been used in a variety of roles this year, from starter to long relief, and been successful... The senior left-hander is second on the team 4-1, making six starts in 12 appearances. He ranks third on the team logging 40.2 innings... Overall Eubanks owns a 9-8 record and 5.85 ERA in 127 innings.
ONE NATION: Blake Nation pitched only 18 innings during his first two years as an Eagle with 11 Ks. The junior right-hander has easily surpassed those previous career numbers, 28.2 IP and 25 strikeouts... Nation owns a 2-3 record with five saves (two against Western Carolina, Towson, North Florida and Jacksonville) and a 3.77 ERA... He stands third on the team with 17 relief appearances.
WELCOME BACK TO THE MOUND: Redshirt-freshman Andy Moye (Alpharetta/Alpharetta) has returned from last year's Tommy John surgery, posting a 2-4 record and 6.70 ERA... Moye gave up two hits (one being a 2-run HR), walked one and struck out four in five innings of work against Boston College. He faced just three batters over the minimum... He gave up three runs (one earned) in five innings against Towson. He scattered five hits, walked two and struck out four... Moye matched his season-longest outing throwing 5.1 innings at Charleston, leaving the game with a one-run lead but getting a no-decision... Moye allowed 1 earned run off three hits in 5.2 innings against Appalachian State, striking out three... Moye recoreded season-highs of six strikeouts in six innings but received a no-decision at Davidson... He is second in innings pitched (41.2).
STROHECKER RETURNS: Sophomore Charlie Strohecker returned from an injury that sidelined him most of 2007... He picked up his second win of the year, in as many decisions, during the Western Carolina finale... Overall Strohecker stands 2-1 with a 4.32 ERA in 33.1 IP. He has struck out 22 batters... Before his injury last year Strohecker earned the win in three of the team's first five victories.
GILBERT THROWING STRIKES: Sophomore A.J. Gilbert is enjoying his first year on the mound after missing the last two years with an injury. He has struck out 12 batters in just 12.1 innings of work. Twice the lefty has struck out the side (Columbia, at Charleston)... Gilbert owns a 5.11 ERA, issuing seven walks while allowing just 13 hits.
FRESHMAN IMPACT: True-freshman Tony Chisman (Conyers/Salem) continues to be a reliable arm out of the bullpen. He is tied for the team lead with 19 appearances, posting a 5.91 ERA... In 21.1 innings Chisman has given up 27 hits and struck out 24 to 13 walks allowed.
RICHARDSON GOES FOR THE CYCLE: Senior outfielder David Richardson accomplished one of the rarest feats in baseball. In the opener at the College of Charleston, he hit for the cycle and did so in consecutive innings. Richardson singled to leadoff the fourth. He hit a 2-run homer in the fifth as the team sent 11 batters to the plate. Richardson lined a leadoff double in the sixth then hit a one-out triple in the seventh.
ON DECK: Georgia Southern returns home to start an eight-game homestand, leading into the final week of the regular season. It all begins Wednesday night (April 30) against Jacksonville, first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m.
