Baseball Evens Series with 5-0 win Saturday
2/20/2011 2:17:00 AM | Baseball
STATESBORO, Ga. - Junior right-hander Josh Adams (Bath, S.C.) threw five scoreless innings of two-hit ball to record his first Georgia Southern career win in a 5-0 shutout of George Washington (1-1) Saturday afternoon at J.I. Clements Stadium.
Adams set the tone early and helped the Eagles (1-1) bounce back from an 8-6 10 inning loss in the first game of the series. He combined with Colin Snow (Alpharetta, Ga.) and Matt Murray (Spring City, Pa.) to hold the Colonials to four hits to record the first shutout victory of the season.
Snow pitched two-thirds of the sixth inning but ran into some trouble after two baserunners reached on a hit and an error with two out. Murray came out of the bullpen with the tying run on-deck and set down six batters in a row. Murray pitched 3.1 innings, allowing just one hit while striking out 3 hitters, to earn his second career save.
Georgia Southern tallied 11 hits and scored four of their five runs in the middle innings. Victor Roache (Ypsilanti, Mich.) led the team with three hits in four at-bats. Three other Eagles posted two hits each. Shawn Payne (Stone Mountain, Ga.) extended his hit streak to 11 games with two hits and two RBIs on the day.
The Eagles got on the board in the fourth inning with back-to-back hits. Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) doubled down the left field line with one out and scored on a single by Roache. The Colonials attempted to respond in the top of the fifth inning. Ollie Mittag singled to lead off the inning and advanced all the way to third base on a pair of ground outs.
GSU tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning on back-to-back doubles. Jesse Piccolo (Flagler Beach, Fla.) led off the inning with a walk before freshman Ben Morgan (Evans, Ga.) uncorked an 0-2 double down the left-field line, moving two runners into scoring position. Payne brought in both runs with another double, this one over the head of the left fielder.
The Eagles added solo runs in the sixth and eighth to tack onto their 3-0 lead. Morgan drove in a two-out run with a single through the right side of defense, scoring Steve Cochrane (Mooresville, N.C.) who walked earlier in the inning. Payne loaded the bases with a walk following the run, but Colonial reliever Justin Albright coaxed a ground out to end the inning.
Albright pitched well out of the bullpen allowing, one unearned run on four hits in 2.1 innings of work. Joe Richardson got the start for George Washington and allowed three runs on six hits over five innings.
Georgia Southern scored the unearned run off of Albright in the eighth inning. Piccolo was hit by a pitch to open the inning and was moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Morgan. He reached third base on a passed ball by Robbie Haden who had taken over the catching duties that inning. Arthur Owens (Fayetteville, Ga.) beat out a chopper down the first-base line to score Piccolo.
Neither team was able to get much offense going in the first three innings with both squads combining for three hits in the early going. George Washington got a two-out single in the first inning, but Adams struck out Paul Pakan looking to end the inning. Georgia Southern got its own two-out hit in the second inning on a double by Cochrane, but the inning ended a batter later on a fly out.
George Washington threatened in the ninth inning and had a runner reach second base with one out. A wild throw by the shortstop Phillips erased a great effort to field the ball deep in the hole, allowing the runner two bases on the error. Murray, who had struck out the first batter in the inning, quickly erased the runner at second base on a fielder's choice. Albright, who had advanced to second base on the rundown of Ollie Mittag, was picked off second base for the final out of the game.
George Washington will throw its second lefty Bobby Lucas Jr., on Sunday. Lucas Jr. was 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA. Georgia Southern will counter with freshman right-hander Will Middour (Atlanta, Ga.).
Season tickets are currently on sale through the Georgia Southern Athletic Ticket Office at 800-GSU-WINS.
All baseball games can be heard on Fox Sports 106.5 FM in Statesboro and online at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/Eaglevision beginning 30 minutes prior to first pitch. Ryan Chambers of the Georgia Southern Radio Network will have the call live from J.I. Clements Stadium all weekend.
Fans may follow Georgia Southern Baseball by visiting GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/baseball or check in at twitter.com/GSAthletics or facebook.com/GSAthletics for short updates.
