STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team (3-2) wraps up an eight-game homestand with its second weekend series against North Carolina Central (0-4) this weekend. First pitch in the series is set for Friday at 6 p.m. at J.I. Clements Stadium, with both the Saturday and Sunday games slated for a 1:30 p.m. start time.
GSU is coming off a split in the mid-week series with #21 Georgia Tech. It took two walks with the bases loaded to get Georgia Southern a 6-5 win on Tuesday Night. The Yellow Jackets bounced back in Wednesday's contest and won 7-4, snapping GSU's three-game win streak.
Victor Roache (Ypsilanti, Mich.) leads the Eagles at the plate with a .400 batting average and is the early leader in the SoCon with three home runs. All three of his homers have come in meaningful situations this season. His latest cut Georgia Tech's lead to just one run in the sixth inning on Wednesday.
Georgia Southern is hitting .292 as a team and has recorded eight or more hits in every game this season. The Eagles rank second in the Southern Conference with 12 doubles and have tallied an extra-base hit in all five games.
Georgia Southern will use the same rotation that gave it two shutout wins last weekend against George Washington. Josh Adams (Bath, S.C.) and Will Middour (Atlanta, Ga.) will look to go 2-0 on the year, while Chris Beck (Jefferson, Ga.) will take the rubber in search of his first win of the 2011 season.
North Carolina Central will leave the confines of the Durham Athletic Park, the stadium featured in the film "Bull Durham", for the first time in 2011. NCCU hosted Temple last weekend and is coming off an 11-2 loss to Duke on Wednesday.
The bullpen was stellar against the Blue Devils. Brandon Oatis and Jasper Jones combined for six innings, four hits and one run in relief of Douglas Dalley. Dalley gave up six earned runs on seven hits in three innings of work and was tagged with his first loss of the season. Tyson Simpson Jr. went three for four in the contest and is one of the top hitters on the North Carolina Central team with a .500 batting average and one dinger.
One of NCCU's top returners, Akeem Hood, returned to the lineup in the series finale with Temple and started in two straight games in the outfield. Hood hit a team-best .309 in 47 games last season, but is two for nine in the early going in 2011.
North Carolina Central got a quality start from senior pitcher Drew Robinson on Sunday. Robinson allowed just one earned run on six hits over six innings and left the game with NCCU trailing 4-2 after six full innings, but a bad outing from the pen gave Temple a 16-2 win.
To order baseball tickets for upcoming games call the Georgia Southern Athletic Ticket Office at 800-GSU-WINS. Single games tickets are available at the gate for $8 for adults and $4 for youth (3-12).
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 this 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.
