Steve Cochrane Drives in Seven Runs to Complete Sweep of N. C. Central
2/28/2011 12:06:00 AM | Baseball
STATESBORO, Ga. - Steve Cochrane (Mooresville, N.C.) drove in seven runs to help Georgia Southern Baseball (6-2) complete the sweep of North Carolina Central (0-7) with a 20-4 win on Sunday, February 27th. More than 47 runs were scored by the Eagles at J.I. Clements Stadium in the three games.
Cochrane launched his second home run of the season in the fifth inning and recorded an RBI on all but one plate appearance to finish just two short of the school record.
Brent Pugh (Atlanta, Ga.) continued to impress since making his first career start on Saturday and banged out four more hits today. Pugh finished with two doubles, two singles and four RBIs.
Junior Matt Murray (Spring City, Pa.) earned the win in relief of Will Middour (Atlanta, Ga.), who allowed three runs on six hits in 4.2 innings of work. Murray entered in the fifth inning and struck out the first batter he faced.
Georgia Southern blew open what had been a close game with four runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings. North Carolina Central led, for just the second time this season, 3-2, after the top half of the third inning. The Eagles quickly responded in the bottom half of the inning and scored nine unanswered runs to take an 11-3 lead after five innings.
Victor Roache (Ypsilanti, Mich.), who singled with two-outs in the third inning, scored on an error by the firstbaseman. Four straight Eagles scored with two outs in the fourth inning on a Cochrane two-RBI single and a home run by Roache.
Three straight two-out hits, including Cochrane's third career homer, led to four more runs in the fifth inning. Pugh, who finished nine for 12 for the series, led off the inning with his first career double. Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.) drove Pugh in with a two-out single. Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) laid down a bunt single moving Burruss to second base and both runners scored on Cochrane's home run.
Georgia Southern tacked on nine more runs in the seventh and eighth innings combined. Five walks, a hit, a passed ball and a wild pitch scored four runs in the seventh inning. D.J. Henderson (Detroit, Mich.) beat out a throw from the shortstop for his first career hit in the eighth inning and scored along with Andy Moye (Alpharetta, Ga.) on a Tom Richardson (Lilburn, Ga.) single. Stryker Brown (Dalton, Ga.) walked following a two-out double by Ben Morgan (Evans, Ga.) and both would score on Pugh's three-RBI double.
Georgia Southern Baseball hits the road for the first time in 2011 on Wednesday, March 2nd. The Eagles will face North Florida at 6:30 p.m. before returning home for a three-game series with St. John's this weekend.
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 are also available 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 Jacksonville, Fla on Wednesday.
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