Eagles Topple Owls, 16-2
4/28/2010 1:55:00 AM | Baseball
STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern collected 16 hits, including Victor Roache's second grand slam, en route to a 16-2 victory over Kennesaw State Tuesday night (April 27). The Eagles were held scoreless in only two innings of the contest. Chris Myers threw three complete innings allowing only one run as the Eagles pushed their record to 23-19 overall. KSU watched its record dip to 18-23 with the loss.
Myers (Gainesville, Fla.) - who was listed as a catcher entering the season - picked up his first collegiate win in his first collegiate start. The freshman recorded three innings allowing only one run on two hits, while striking out two. Myers, who only had one three-ball count in the outing, was the first of four Eagle pitchers in the contest.
"I pitched about 60 innings my senior year (in high school), and the biggest transition from catching to pitching is just being able to throw your off-speed pitches for strikes," said Myers. "Coach (B.J.) Green has helped me a lot with my slider and my changeup and I think it's getting better every day."
Owl starter Kelly Holt only lasted one inning as the Eagles collected five runs on three hits and five walks to notch the only lead needed, despite KSU scoring in the first inning.
The second out of the game put the first run on the board as Kennesaw State's Tyler Stubblefield hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield plating Ray Anderson who leadoff the inning with a single.
But the Eagles would begin the offensive attack in the bottom half of the frame with a walk to A.J. Wirnsberger (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) rotating the loaded bases to score the first run. Roache (Ypsilanti, Mich.) then laced his second grand slam in as many days to left center to hand the Eagles a 5-1 lead through one complete. Georgia Southern used a walk, single and hit batsman to load the bases setting up the RBI walk by senior Wirnsberger. Roache followed in the next at-bat roping his fifth home run of the season.
Georgia Southern posted a trio of runs in both the third and fourth innings using six singles and a double for six runs.
A triplet of singles opened the third inning putting another run to the board. A Kevin Bowles (Statesboro, Ga.) groundball went through the legs of Owls third baseman and allowed a run to score unearned as GS took a 7-1 margin. Two batters later, Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) launched a single to left field plating the eighth run for the Eagles in Arthur Owens (Fayetteville, Ga.).
After holding KSU scoreless for the third consecutive inning, the Eagles responded with another three runs in the fourth frame. Roache drew a walk to leadoff and scored on a two-bagger by Randy J. Williams (Valdosta, Ga.) down the left field line. KSU picked up an out, but Bowles continued the inning with a two-out RBI single for an 11-1 ballgame.
Ross Tendler put the Owls back on the scoreboard with a solo home run to right center in the fifth inning as KSU chipped at its deficit for the first and last time since the first. The run was immediately taken back with the Eagles pushing its run tally to 12 when Wirnsberger doubled and scored on a Shawn Payne (Stone Mountain, Ga.) single to left.
Phillips picked up his fifth home run and 36th RBI of the season with a three-run home run to left field in the sixth inning. Phillips, behind in the count 0-2, hit the scoreboard giving the Eagles a 15-2 lead.
The 16th and final run of the contest for Georgia Southern came in the seventh inning as Phillips picked up his third hit of the ballgame. The sophomore shortstop used a single to plate Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.) and drive in a season-high fifth RBI of the contest.
For the game, Bowles, Payne and Phillips each recorded three hits. Amongst the trio were seven RBI and five runs scored. Williams was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBI with Roache driving in four RBI on his only hit in the contest.
The Eagles hit the road next for a Southern Conference series at Furman this weekend. GS and Furman will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon and a single contest on Sunday at 1 p.m.
