#28 GEORGIA SOUTHERN EAGLES (29-9, 12-4 SoCON)
at THE CITADEL BULLDOGS (23-16, 10-8 SoCON)

Friday, April 24  ?  6 p.m.  ?  Charleston, S.C. (Riley Park)
Saturday, April 25  ?  2 p.m.  ?  Charleston, S.C. (Riley Park)
Sunday, April 26  ?  1 p.m.  ?  Charleston, S.C. (Riley Park)
All-Time Series: GS leads 34-29
Last Year: GS won 2-of-3 at J.I. Clements Stadium
Radio: Eagle 102.9 FM (Ryan Chambers and Patrick Osterman)
Live Stats: www.GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com

Chris Mederos, Jr, RHP (8-0, 4.14)
 vs. Wes Wrenn, Sr, RHP (6-1, 4.50)
Jake Brown, Jr, LHP (3-3, 4.70)
 vs. Asher Wojciechowski, So, RHP (2-2, 5.05)
Matt Murray, Fr, RHP (3-2, 4.57)
 vs. Matt Crim, Sr, LHP (3-4, 5.44)

EAGLES ON THE AIR: Every Georgia Southern game will be carried live on the Georgia Southern Radio Network, Eagle 102.9 FM in Statesboro. In his third year, Ryan Chambers will call the play-by-play throughout the season. The broadcast begins 30 minutes prior to the scheduled first pitch... All of the Eagles baseball action (audio and video streaming) can be heard and seen live and later archived on the internet through www.GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com.

ON DECK: Georgia Southern will play a doubleheader at Kennesaw State on Wednesday before returning home next weekend for a three-game series against Furman.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: The Citadel dropped two of three last weekend against UNC Greensboro but rebounded for a 16-11 win at Winthrop... Chris McGuiness ranks among the national leaders with his .426 batting average, .579 on-base percentage, 50 walks and .772 slugging percentage... Bryan Altman (.405) and Sonny Meade (.400) are also batting at the .400 mark... The Bulldogs own a .331 team batting average with .968 fielding percentage and a 5.19 ERA... Wes Wrenn is 6-1 with a 4.50 ERA... Drew Mahaffey owns a 1-3 record and 4.55 ERA, however, he leads the team with five saves and has struck out 52 batters (in 30.1 IP) to only nine walks.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE: In recent years the home team in the Georgia Southern-The Citadel series had held home field advantage... Since 2003 the home team has won at least 2-of-3. Last year the Eagles won games one and three.

EAGLES RANKED IN TWO POLLS: Georgia Southern slipped one spot to 28th in the latest Collegiate Baseball poll but made its first appearance in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll at 29th. The Eagles also received votes in the USA Today Coaches' poll... Earlier this month Georgia Southern received the program's first regular season national-ranking since 1996... Georgia Southern ranked as high as seventh during the 1996 season, and was preseason ranked heading into the '97 campaign but dropped its first six games that year.

?TOP 50; TEAM NATIONAL RANKINGS (as of April 19): Scoring 5th (9.9); Hit by Pitch 5th (73); Sacrifice Flies 10th (25); Winning Pct. 12th (.757); Fielding Pct. 14th (.976); Double Plays 24th (41); Strikeouts per 9 Innings 43rd (8.2); Batting Average: 47th.

GETTING DEFENSIVE: Georgia Southern is on pace for a record-setting defensive effort. The Eagles lead the SoCon and rank 14th nationally with a .976 fielding percentage... Georgia Southern has turned 43 double plays, first in the SoCon.

BENEDICT LEADING THE WAY: Senior catcher Griffin Benedict continues to lead the Eagles' hitting attack. The four-year starter owns a .410 average (86th nationally) with 38 runs scored and 36 RBI (second on team). He has walked more times (22) than he has struck out (14), posting a .537 on-base percentage as well (22nd nationally)... Benedict has also stolen 6-of-6 bases this year... He recorded a team season-high (and career-high) five hits against East Carolina... Last year he picked off six runners, recording more than three SoCon teams by himself. This year he is one off the team lead with two while throwing out 18-of-50 runners trying to steal.

WHERE'S THE ICE PACK?: Griffin Benedict is second in the nation getting hit by a pitch 18 times. In fact, Benedict has walked and been hit by a pitch more than he has struck out... He is currently fourth on the season ?Top 10' list and ranks fourth all-time (47) behind: J.R. Revere (62), James Payne (52) and current Director of Baseball Operations Carlos Love (51).

THE WRIGHT WAY: Senior Ty Wright currently ranks second batting .396 with 48 runs scored (first on team/40th nationally) and team-leading 40 RBI... Wright is second drawing 23 walks and has done so more than he's struck out (16)... He leads the way going 15-for-16 in stolen bases, including a career-high three in game three against Davidson, but recently had his career-high 16-game hitting streak end (0-for-4 vs. Jacksonville)... He launched a home run at Appalachian State which at the time tied the game, but the inning before made of the most impressive defensive plays ever - diving for a line drive in the left field gap, coming up with the catch then throwing on to first to complete a key double play. That kept two runs from scoring... He moved back to the leadoff role against College of Charleston. He hit a solo homer to start the bottom of the ninth against CofC, then smacked a walk-off 2-run single in the 14th to win the game. It was his first collegiate walk-off hit... Wright hit his first collegiate grand slam, part of his season-high four hits, in the 23-3 win at Georgia Tech... He matched career-highs of five hits, four runs scored and two stolen bases in the game three win at Western Carolina to clinch that series win... Against Davidson he went 9-for-13 at the plate.

APRIL POWER: Ty Wright seems to get even hotter during the month of April. Last year he was the Southern Conference ?Player of the Month' in April. This year he is picking up where he left off. In 13 games Wright leads the team batting .484 (30-of-62) with 26 runs scored and 21 RBI... He has also posted a .721 slugging percentage and .526 on-base mark while going 8-for-8 in stolen bases... All this started when he moved back into the leadoff role in game one against College of Charleston. Wright hit a game-tying solo homer in the bottom of the ninth, then hit a walk-off 2-run single in the 14th inning to complete the amazing comeback (down 13-4 in 7th).

PIERCE HITS DOUBLE CENTURY: Senior Brian Pierce played in his 200th career game at Western Carolina, one of two current Eagles to reach that milestone (207 games/206 starts)... Pierce turned in one of the most impressive streaks in all of Division I Baseball, 185 consecutive games started. That came to an end on March 18 at Winthrop. Pierce and several other members of the Eagles were bitten by the flu bug and he did not suit up... Pierce missed the first seven games of his freshman year, came on as a defensive replacement in game eight and started every game since... Pierce currently bats a career-best .345 with 29 runs scored, 10 doubles, two home runs (four in his career), 28 RBI and a .973 fielding percentage... In his career Pierce owns a .952 fielding percentage and during the Davidson series drove in his 100th career run (105 RBI)... Pierce is another Eagle putting together an impressive April resume, going 25-for-57 (.439) at the plate. He has 13 runs scored, 11 RBI, six doubles, .475 on-base percentage and .975 fielding percentage.

SCHOLAR PIERCE: Brian Pierce finished the Davidson series 9-for-13 at the plate, posting three 3-hit games during the weekend. He was named Southern Conference ?Scholar-Athlete of the Week' for his efforts... Pierce is scheduled to graduate in May magna cum laude, posting a 3.80 GPA majoring in Finance.

BOWLES TAKE TWO: Junior Kevin Bowles has taken over at second base and batting second... In the College of Charleston series Bowles knocked five doubles with five runs and four RBI... Bowles scored six runs in the two-game series at Georgia Tech and posted a .727 on-base percentage. In game three he matched a career-high of three hits... He came through with a two-out, 2-run single in the seventh inning against Jacksonville which proved to be the game-winner... Overall he owns a .319 batting average, leads the team hitting 12 doubles, scored 36 runs, driven in 23 and has 20 walks to seven strikeouts... Bowles enters the week ranked 29th nationally in toughest to strikeout... Defensively Bowles owns a .973 fielding percentage.

KING OF THE HILL: Senior Jonathan King has walked 25 times, first on the team but just misses the national minimum requirement. He was 24th nationally last week in walks per game... He has hit the first five doubles of his career this year, and his first collegiate home run was a solo shot against College of Charleston to help the nine-run comeback... In the first inning of game three at Western Carolina he robbed a home run to straightaway centerfield... Overall King owns a .299 batting average with 28 runs, 15 RBI and .474 on-base percentage.

FROSH PHILLIPS: True-freshman Eric Phillips has started games at third base, second, shortstop, first base and designated hitter... His versatility has kept him in the line-up, batting .324 with 26 runs scored, 29 RBI, six doubles and 12 walks to only eight strikeouts (67th nationally in toughest to strikeout)... He owns a .982 fielding percentage, starting recently at third base... Phillips' first collegiate home run was a grand slam in game three of the Elon series.

SOUTH AT FIRST: Will Southwell, one of two fifth-year seniors on the team, moved into the starting line-up at first base. He's made the most of his opportunity during the month of April. Overall Southwell owns a .259 batting average with 22 runs and 22 RBI. In April, he is currently hitting at a .371 clip with 13 runs scored and 11 RBI. Southwell also has hit two of his three home runs and three of his four doubles this month. He has also walked five times to only three strikeouts and played error-free ball at first base.

KAMPP FIRE: Senior Kyle Kamppi did it all during his junior year, from relief to weekday starter to weekend starter... Now in his senior year, Kamppi is back to short relief. He picked up his first win throwing two innings in the win over Bethune-Cookman... Kamppi entered game one of the College of Charleston series in the 10th inning and pitched 4.1 innings to earn the win... In a team-leading 21 appearances (26.1 IP) the senior right-hander is 2-1 with a 3.08 ERA, striking out 30 to 12 walks... He also leads the team with six saves (Presbyterian, East Carolina, Appalachian State, Kennesaw State, Elon and Jacksonville)... His nine career saves ranks him ninth on the Georgia Southern all-time list.

STRIKE FORCE: Junior Chris Mederos has taken over the number one weekend starter role. In his first nine starts, Mederos picked up the win eight times... He earned a no-decision is his start against College of Charleston... In six of his eight starts, Mederos fanned seven or more batters (Elon, Appalachian State, Indiana, Coppin State and Presbyterian). Against the Cougars he fanned seven batters... Last weekend he recorded season-highs of 8.0 innings pitched and nine strikeouts in the win over Davidson... Mederos enters this week ranked first in the league fanning 65 batters (30th nationally in strikeouts per 9 innings). He is also tied for third nationally in victories, one off the national lead. Mederos also matched former great John Gibson winning eight consecutive games.
CONSECUTIVE VICTORIES
1. Russell Hendricks 12   1989
 Ernie Venet 12  1973
3. Joey Hamilton 11  1990
4. Paul Kilimonis 9  1980
 Chuck Lusted 9  1979
6. Chris Mederos 8 2009
 John Gibson 8 1974

SHORT INNING BULLPEN: Junior transfers Charles Matthews and Dexter Bobo have helped solidify the Georgia Southern bullpen. Matthews is one off the team lead making 20 appearances. He owns a 1-0 record (win over #8 Georgia Tech) with a 4.56 ERA. In 23.2 IP he has struck out 23 with an opponent batting average of .265. He closed out the first two wins in the Davidson series, blanking the Wildcats in 2.1 IP... Bobo has a 2-1 record and two saves in 16 appearances. He owns a 5.59 ERA in 19.1 IP, striking out 17. Bobo recovered from his rough outing against Davidson in game one (6 runs in 0.1 IP) to throw a scoreless inning of relief in game three.