Baseball Travels to Western Carolina This Weekend
4/9/2009 5:35:00 PM | Baseball
STATESBORO, Ga. ? The 26th-ranked Georgia Southern Baseball team travels to Western Carolina for a key Southern Conference series this weekend. First pitch on Friday night (April 10) is scheduled for 6 p.m., with a 6 p.m. start on Saturday and 2 on Sunday afternoon.
Every baseball game can be heard on the Georgia Southern Radio Network, flagship station Eagle 102.9 FM in Statesboro, and via the internet at www.GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com. Ryan Chambers will call the game and the broadcast will begin 30 minutes before first pitch.
The Eagles (22-8 overall, 7-3 SoCon) enter this weekend tied with Western in the loss column for first place in the league. After a SoCon sweep of College of Charleston last weekend the Eagles were named ?Team of the Week' by CollegeBaseballInsider.com.
GS split a pair of midweek games at in-state rival eighth-ranked Georgia Tech, dropping the opener 8-4 but rebounded for a 23-3 win, the largest margin of victory by the Eagles in the 106-game all-time series.
Senior catcher Griffin Benedict (Dunwoody/St. Pius) leads the team with his .407 batting average and ranks fifth in the SoCon. He also leads the Eagles getting hit by 13 pitches.
Ty Wright (Montrose/ABAC) extended his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games following his 4-for-5 performance against Georgia Tech Wednesday ? including his first grand slam. The four hits were a season-high and one off his career-high. Wright is now 23-of-52 during his hitting streak, a .442 clip. Overall he stands with a .366 batting average, team-leading 34 runs scored, 27 RBI, 23 walks and team-high 8-of-9 stolen bases.
Phillip Porter (Marietta/Sprayberry) is close behind batting at a .358 clip. He shares the team lead with Wright scoring 34 runs, along with his seven doubles, two triples and five home runs. Junior second baseman Kevin Bowles (Statesboro/Statesboro) leads the squad hitting 11 doubles, and has scored 30 runs while defensively posting a .982 fielding percentage.
A.J. Wirnsberger (Tuscaloosa, AL/Paul Bryant) hit his team-leading sixth home run in the 23-3 win at Tech. He paces the team with 31 RBI and owns a .964 fielding percentage. Freshman Eric Phillips (Carrollton/Carrollton) drove in a run during the win at Tech but saw his 11-game hitting streak end. He owns a .333 batting average with 20 runs and 22 RBI. Senior Kyle Kamppi (Savannah/Benedictine) leads the team with five saves, posting a 2-1 record and 2.95 ERA. He has fanned 26 batters in 21.1 innings.
Junior Chris Mederos (Valdosta/Gordon College) is scheduled to start Friday night. He is 6-0 with a 5.27 ERA, striking out a SoCon-leading 51 batters in just 41 innings. Fellow junior transfer Jake Brown (Forest Hill, MD/Pitt CC) will make his first weekend start. Brown owns a 2-2 record and 4.91 ERA in 33 innings, striking out 23 to eight walks. Freshman Matt Murray (Spring City, PA/Owen Roberts) will go on Sunday. Murray brings a 1-2 record and 5.57 ERA through 32.1 innings into the contest.
Georgia Southern enters the weekend posting a .319 team batting average, Southern Conference-leading .978 fielding percentage and 5.22 ERA. Last year the Eagles swept a three-game series versus Western at J.I. Clements Stadium.
Western (19-10, 8-3) is coming off a 24-23 win in 11 innings at home against Eastern Kentucky. The Catamounts rank second in the league batting .336, along with their SoCon-leading 5.13 ERA and own a .956 fielding percentage.
Mike Tavernier (2-2, 6.56 ERA), Chris Masters (3-1, 5.50 ERA) and Corey Martin (4-3, 4.63) are scheduled to start on the mound this weekend.
Ross Heffley leads the way hitting .451 with 25 runs and 24 RBI. Brent Greer is also above the .400 mark at .410 with 24 runs, 10 doubles and 26 RBI. Trevor Collias has stolen a team-high 17 bases with Nick Liles and J.C. Lyons next tied with 14 apiece. Daniel Ottone owns a 3-1 record and 3.50 ERA in relief with five saves.
During the win over EKU, Western banged out 30 hits but committed seven errors. Mitchell Hatley went 7-for-7 in the game with three runs and seven RBI. Collias had four hits and four runs scored while leadoff hitter Liles had four hits and five runs scored.
