Baseball Pitches Back-to-Back Shutouts to Take Opening Series Win
2/21/2011 12:11:00 AM | Baseball
STATESBORO, Ga. - Stellar pitching, a grand slam and a perfect day at the plate for Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) highlights Georgia Southern's (2-1) 18-0 victory over George Washington (1-2) Sunday, February 20th at J.I. Clements Stadium. GSU pitchers threw back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 2000. The Eagles last pitched two shutout victories in a row in a mid-week series against Mercer in Head Coach Rodney Hennon's first season at the helm.
Will Middour (Atlanta, Ga.) starts Georgia Southern's second shutout win and went 5.1 innings in his career debut. The freshman allowed just four hits and struck out the one Colonial on the day. He settled down and worked out of his only jam of the game after walking the first two batters he faced. Joe Lower (West Palm Beach, Fla.), Drew Johnson (Peachtree City, Ga.) and Ryan McCafferty (West Chester, Pa.) all threw in relief to help secure the win.
Georgia Southern knocked out 18 hits to score runs in sixth of the eight innings that they appeared at the plate and played errorless ball for the first time this season. Phillips tallied five of those hits in five at-bats. The junior infielder also drove in five runs and scored three himself. Shawn Payne (Stone Mountain, Ga.) extended his hitting streak to 12 games and picked up three runs on three hits and plated three others. Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.) and Tom Richardson (Lilburn, Ga.) also tallied the first three hits of his Eagle career.
Victor Roache (Ypsilanti, Mich.) capped off a seven-run second inning with his third career grand slam. The Eagles took advantage of two back-to-back errors and quickly loaded the bases after Vince Smith (Kingsland, Ga.) was hit by a pitch. Payne drove in two runs with a double to left field. Phillips walked to reload the bases after Burruss picked up a RBI with single through the left side. Roache sent an 0-1 pitch over the left field wall in the next at-bat.
Georgia Southern opened the game with a one-out run in the first inning. Payne opened the bottom half of the inning with a four-pitch walk. Burruss drove in the senior outfielder, who had stolen second base after a strikeout, with a single up the middle.
The Eagles added two more runs after loading the bases in the fourth inning. Andy Moye (Alpharetta, Ga.) drove in one run with a fielder's choice and Richardson drove in the other with a double to right field.
Phillips added three runs in the fifth inning with another left field home run, and Georgia Southern scored four more times in the sixth inning. The Eagles used four base hits and a ground out to score the runs.
Richardson doubled to right center after Jesse Piccolo (Flagler Beach, Fla.) was hit by a pitch with one out to move two runners into scoring position in the seventh inning. Garren Palmer (Dalton, Ga.) drove in his first career run with a ground out to shortstop.
Georgia Southern continues an eight-game homestand with a pair of midweek games against #19 Georgia Tech. The Eagles will take on the Yellow Jackets Tuesday at 6 p.m. and Wednesday at 4 p.m. at J.I. Clements Stadium.
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.
