Baseball Wraps Up Four-Game Road Trip with Tuesday Trip to Jacksonville
3/28/2011 6:03:00 PM | Baseball
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team (15-10) wraps up a four-game road trip with a midweek game with Jacksonville (14-10) Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at John Sessions Stadium. The Eagles moved into a tie for second place in the Southern Conference with a series victory over #28 Charleston this weekend. GSU won just its second conference road series against the Cougars since 2001 under Head Coach Rodney Hennon, who picked up his 500th career victory on Sunday.
Jacksonville is coming off a weekend series loss to Lipscomb despite a 10-5 win on Friday night. The Dolphins led 10-0 before a five run eighth inning by the Bisons cut their lead in half. Seven of JU's starters are hitting over .300 and are led by Dan Gulbransen's .409 batting average. Adam Brett Walker leads the team in home runs with five and has tallied seven doubles this season. The team is hitting .323 as a squad and has posted a team ERA of 4.81. JU is 4-2 against the SoCon this season and swept Samford in a four-game series earlier in the year.
Jacksonville will start senior lefty Brian Gilroy while Georgia Southern will counter with sophomore right hander Justin Hess (Panama City, Fla.) on Tuesday. Gilroy will be making his first start of the season and is 0-0 with a 1.08 ERA in eight appearances this year. Gilroy has thrown only 8.1 innings this season, but has allowed just one earned run. He faced one batter in Sunday's 11-8 loss and allowed a hit.
Hess will put his 11.1 scoreless innings streak on the line in his second start of the year. He is 0-1 with a 5.23 ERA this year and has logged 20.2 innings in eight appearances. Hess last appeared in the 8-2 win over Kennesaw State on March 22nd and scattered six hits over five innings of work.
The SoCon leader in batting average, Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.), will look to extend his hit streak to 19 games against the Dolphins on Tuesday. Phillips, who is hitting .447 on the season, has 31 hits in 68 at-bats (.456) during his hit streak.
Georgia Southern has posted a SoCon best .307 batting average as a squad and also lead the conference in on-base percentage with a .390 mark. The Eagles lead the league in runs, hits and RBIs this season. The GSU pitching staff moved into second place with a 3.76 ERA and is one of three teams with an ERA less than 4.00. Matt Murray (Spring City, Pa.) continues to pace the Southern Conference with a 0.65 ERA and a .135 opposing batting average.
Georgia Southern Baseball games can be heard live on Eagle 102.9 FM and are also available online at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/Eaglevision with broadcasts beginning 30 minutes prior to first pitch. Ryan Chambers of the Georgia Southern Radio Network will call all the action.
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.
