Eagles Fall to No. 3 Yellow Jackets
4/22/2010 12:11:00 AM | Baseball
ATLANTA, Ga. – Kyle Blackburn drove in two runs as Georgia Southern fell to No. 3 Georgia Tech in a non-conference meeting Wednesday (April 21) at Russ Chandler Stadium. An eighth-run fifth frame preserved an 18-4 win as GT improved to 33-5. The Eagles, who return to J.I. Clements Stadium this weekend, dropped to 21-17.
Kevin Bowles (Statesboro, Ga.) drove in the first Georgia Southern run and was one of five Eagles to hit successfully in the ballgame. Blackburn (Marietta, Ga.) went 1-for-5 with two RBI, while Bowles collected one RBI as did A.J. Wirnsberger (Tuscaloosa, Ala.).
The Eagles posted a pair of runs in the third and added two more in the fifth and sixth, but five Yellow Jacket runs within the first two innings capped by an eight-run fifth and three late sealed the in-state win.
Tech exploded in the first inning scoring four runs for an early 4-0 cushion. Jeff Rowland would score the first run after a leadoff double put him on second. Derek Dietrich picked up the first RBI with a single to right field plating Rowland. Tony Plagman, hitless in game one, dropped a home run to right field on a 1-0 pitch for a GT 2-0 lead. Georgia Tech scored the final two runs in the inning on two wild pitches and a sacrifice fly.
The Yellow Jackets picked up another run in the bottom of the second. A free pass to Brandon Thomas turned into an earned run when the freshman moved to third on a fly out and scored on a Plagman single up the middle that followed.
Georgia Southern struck in the top of the third capitalizing on two walks from Shawn Payne (Stone Mountain, Ga.) and Arthur Owens (Fayetteville, Ga.). Bowles drove the first run in on a ground-rule double down the right field line that bounced into the bullpen, scoring Payne and moving Owens to third. Blackburn batted a run in on a groundout to second that plated Owens for a 5-2 score.
GT answered with a pair of runs of their own using three hits – two doubles and a single – in the bottom half of the frame. In the fifth, Bowles scored on a Blackburn double to right center, cutting the deficit to 7-3.
But the Yellow Jackets' response was an eight-run fifth in which GT sent 12 batters to the plate recording six hits – three singles, one double, one triple and one home run – and leaving one stranded on base.
The Eagles took one run back in the sixth when Wirnsberger homered down the right field line, but that would be the last run scored for GS. Tech added three runs in the seventh and eighth to cap the win.
For the Eagles, Jake Ware (Statesboro, Ga.) was 1-for-1 pinch hitting with Steve Cochrane (Mooresville, N.C.) going 2-for-2. Buck Farmer picked up the win moving to 4-1 on the year, while Justin Hess was charged with the loss.
Georgia Southern returns home to welcome Western Carolina to J.I. Clements Stadium, April 23-25. The three-game series opens Friday night at 7 p.m.
