St. John's Explodes in Middle Innings to Even Series
3/5/2011 11:06:00 PM | Baseball
STATESBORO, Ga. - St. John's broke open an early pitchers' dual with 11 runs in the middle innings and evened the series between Georgia Southern (7-4) and the Red Storm (4-4) with a 14-3 win on Saturday afternoon, March 5th. Kyle Hansen earned the win for STJ after going 5.1 innings and allowing one earned run. Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.) had two hits on the afternoon, including a single in the fourth to erase Hansen's no-hit bid.
One of two preseason All-Americans on St. John's roster, Hansen retired seven-straight Eagles before allowing a base hit and faced just one over the minimum in the first three innings. Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) was the only man to reach in the first three innings, doing so on his first walk of the day. Phillips reached base in all five plate appearances and finished with two singles, a hit by pitch and two walks.
The Red Storm singled twice in the first inning but had both runners eliminated. A fielder's choice wiped out a single by Jimmy Brennan, and Joe Panik was thrown out at second base after trying to stretch a single into a double. Josh Adams (Bath, S.C.), who started the game on the mound for the Eagles, retired the next seven batters he faced in order before running into trouble in the fourth inning.
St. John's batted around in the inning and stroked seven-straight hits with one out to score the first five runs of the ballgame. The Red Storm opened with three-straight singles from Panik, Paul Karmas and Sean O'Hare to score the first run of the inning. A double by Jeremy Baltz followed and scored two more runs before singles by Matt Wessinger and Joe Witkowski plated the final two runs.
Georgia Southern got a run back in the bottom half of the fourth inning. Burruss' single led off the inning, and Phillips moved him to second on a hard hit ball at the third baseman. Tom Richardson (Lilburn, Ga.) drove in the run on a single to left field, following a walk by Victor Roache (Ypsilanti, Mich.). The Eagles had a shot at a second run on the junior catcher's hit, but Phillips was thrown out at the plate.
GSU matched St. John's single run in the fifth with a run in the bottom half of the inning. The Eagles scored without a hit on a passed ball. Back-to-back walks by Hansen with one out and a ground out to the pitcher put two runners in scoring position before a pitch got away from the catcher Witkowski and allowed the run to score.
The Red Storm added five more runs in the sixth inning and tacked on three more in the seventh inning before Georgia Southern could put another run on the board in the bottom half of the seventh. Shawn Payne (Stone Mountain, Ga.), who extended his reached base streak to 40 games with a walk in the fifth inning, reached base on a dropped third strike and scored on back-to-back singles from Burruss and Phillips.
Andy Moye (Alpharetta, Ga.) will take the mound Sunday as the Eagles will go for the series win in the finale with St. John's at 1:30 p.m. Moye will make his first start on the rubber for Georgia Southern and is 1-0 with a 1.04 ERA this season. The Red Storm will counter with Brendan Lobban (1-0, 3.09 ERA), who earned the win against #23 Georgia Tech in his last start.
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 this weekend 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 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.
