STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern baseball defeated CoppinState 20-2 in game one of Saturday's doubleheader at J.I. Clements Stadium.
“I thought we did a better job today,” said head coach Rodney Hennon. “It's a totally different look from what we've seen. You have a tendency to try to do too much and you've got to be patient - take your walks when they're there and hopefully get some good counts to hit. When you do get good pitches, don't try to do too much with it. Keep it simple.”
The Eagles scored their 20 runs on 11 hits and outhit CoppinState 11-7.
Andy Moye(Alpharetta, Ga.) pitched well, earning the win in six innings of four-hit ball.
Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) and Chris Jones(Lithonia, Ga.) both had multi-hit games. Phillips drove in two runs and crossed home plate three times in his second start of the season. Jones led off the bottom of the third with a solo shot to left for his first career home run.
“It felt good,” said Jones. “We needed to get some more runs on the board to go ahead and put it away. It felt good to get out there on the field and contribute to the win.”
The Eagles scored nine runs in the first inning on six hits. Matt Miller(Canton, Ga.) led off with a walk and scored on Griffin Benedict's (Dunwoody, Ga.) RBI single. Jonathan King(Athens, Ga.) plated Phillip Porter(Marietta, Ga.) for the second run of the inning. Phillips continued the damage with a RBI single. Brian Pierce(Roswell, Ga.) doubled into the left field power alley plating two more runs. Miller tripled to right field scoring Pierce. Porter homered in his second at-bat of the inning plating two more runs before Josue Martinez got the third out of the inning.
Coppin State loaded the bases in first inning, but Moye stranded the runners.
Georgia Southern scored three more runs in the third on two home runs. Jones led off with a solo shot to left field, and Roman Grimaldi (Duluth, Ga.) hit a two-run two-RBI bomb to right to give the Eagles a 12-0 lead.
Georgia Southern added two more runs in the fourth inning on two errors by CoppinState.
The Eagles scored six runs in the bottom of the sixth on three hits. Pat Smith(New Castle, Del.) drove in the first run of the inning with a RBI single to left.
Game Two
Georgia Southern came from behind to defeat CoppinState 22-5 in game three of the series to complete the sweep at J.I. Clements Stadium Saturday.
The Eagles tied a school record for walks with 18 on Vince Smith's free pass in the bottom of the sixth. The school record was originally set in 1975 against Virginia Tech.
Georgia Southern scored 22 runs on 14 hits.
Michael Hester(Evans, Ga.) picked up the win after pitching three scoreless innings in relief of the starter Colin Snow(Alpharetta, Ga.).
The Eagles scored 11 runs in the second inning on six hits and seven walks. Porter drove in three of the runs with a bases-clearing double. Pierce also had a RBI single in the inning.
Coppin State took an early three-run lead in the top of the first. Lonnel Bush drove in two of the runs with his first homerun of the season.
Georgia Southern scored six runs in the fourth inning to make the score 18-4. Pat Smith drove in the second run of the inning with a RBI double into the right field power alley. Randy Williams(Valdosta, Ga.) plated two more runs with a single up the middle.
The Eagles added three more runs in the bottom half of the sixth. Jones drove in one of the runs on a RBI double to right.
Baseball returns to action Tuesday against Winthrop at J.I Clements Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.
