Baseball Continues Eight-Game Homestand with #21 Georgia Tech
2/21/2011 6:08:00 PM | Baseball
STATESBORO, Ga. - Fresh off of a season-opening series victory over George Washington the Georgia Southern Baseball team (2-1) will play host to #21 Georgia Tech (2-1) in a pair of mid-week games at J.I. Clements. Shawn Payne (Stone Mountain, Ga.) will put his 12-game hit streak and 32-game reached base streak on the line this week when the Eagles face the Yellow Jackets at 6 p.m. on Tuesday and 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
Payne has hit in every game since May 13th of last season. He is batting .431 with five doubles, two home runs and 14 RBIs during the streak. Payne has also reached base in 32 games dating back to the Elon series.
Georgia Tech owns a 83-27 record in the all-time series between the two schools and took all four games played last season. Georgia Southern split the 2009 four-game series, winning once at home 6-5 and one at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. 23-2.
The Eagles rebounded from an opening-night loss in extra innings to George Washington by pitching back-to-back shutouts in the final two games of the series, 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.
Junior Josh Adams (Bath, S.C.) and freshman Will Middour (Atlanta, Ga.) both made victorious debuts on the mound for Georgia Southern. Adams allowed just two hits over five innings to get his first win, while Middour went 5.1 innings and allowed four hits.
Sophomore outfielder Victor Roache (Ypsilanti, Mich.) and junior captain Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) capped off the series with highlights at the plate on Sunday. Roache blasted open a 4-0 game in the second inning with his third-career grand slam, while Phillips went a perfect five-for-five from the plate and finished just a triple shy of the cycle. The junior shortstop picked up a hit in every game of the series and went seven-for-13 on the weekend.
Just 13 wins shy of his 500th career victory, Hennon leads the Eagles in his 12th season. The Dalton, Ga., native has led Georgia Southern to four NCAA Regional appearances and 30 or more wins in ever season.
Georgia Tech took the first two-games of its opening series with Kent State and led 1-0 through five innings on Sunday before the Golden Flashes scored six runs in the final four frames to avoid the sweep.
The Yellow Jackets have a new look to their lineup after a Tech record 10 players where selected in the MLB Draft last season. Georgia Tech returns three players to its batting order that saw significant playing time in 2010. Jacob Esch leads the Yellow Jackets with a .583 (7-12) batting average and four doubles after the opening weekend.
Georgia Tech is managed by 18-year Head Coach Danny Hall who has won a school-record 739 games. Hall, who played his college ball at Miami (Ohio), has led the Yellow Jackets to all three of their College World Series appearances.
Georgia Southern received great fan support in the opening weekend with Friday's crowd of 2,139 ranking in the top-10 all time. Nearly 5,500 fans attended the the three-game series which ranks as the sixth-largest weekend in Clements Stadium history. To order baseball tickets for upcoming games call the Georgia Southern Athletic Ticket Office at 800-GSU-WINS.
All games can be heard on 102.9 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 Tuesday and Wednesday.
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.
| Date | Pitcher | Year | L/R | W-L-S | ERA |
| Tues 2-22 6 p.m. | GS - Jarret Leverett | Jr. | LHP | 0-1-0 | 0.00 |
| GT - Luke Bard | So. | RHP | 0-0-0 | 0.00 | |
| Weds 2-23 4 p.m. | GS - TBA | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| GT - Matt Grimes | Fr. | RHP | 0-0-0 | 0.00 |
