Baseball Splits Two-Game Midweek Homestand
4/14/2011 2:13:00 AM | Baseball
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team (20-14) split a two-game midweek homestand with a 20-7 win yesterday and a 7-3 loss to North Florida tonight, April 13th. The Ospreys opened the game with runs in four of the first five innings and scored six of their seven runs in the first half of the game.
The Eagles attempted to mount a comeback, scoring three runs in the final three frames. Stryker Brown (Dalton, Ga.) picked up hits in his final three at-bats and drove in two runs on his first career home run. Brown also singled in the fifth inning and again in the ninth, putting two runners on base with one out. A ground ball to the third baseman in the next at-bat turned into a double play to end the contest.
Victor Roache (Ypsilanti, Mich.) sent his 15th home run of the season into the night in the eighth inning, the most since Chris Shehan hit 22 in 2008. Roache is currently in second place in the NCAA trailing only Jake Lowery of James Madison, who has 17 on the year. Roache finished the day with two hits in two at-bats and two walks.
North Florida scored an unearned run in the first inning and added another in the second inning on a two-out double by Kyle Dahl. Alex Hernandez walked to lead off the game and quickly reached second on a passed ball. Two ground outs to the right side followed, driving in the first run of the game.
The Eagles brought on their closer, Matt Murray (Spring City, Pa.), in the fifth inning to try to keep the game at 4-0. Joe Lower (West Palm Beach, Fla.) sandwiched a pair of ground outs around back-to-back base hits and was lifted in his second inning of work for Murray. The junior pitcher coaxed a soft ground ball up the middle out of Alex Bacon, but it was just out of reach of the defense to drive in two runs.
Murray would only allow one other hit and struck out two batters in 1.1 innings. Josh Adams (Bath, S.C.) dropped his third-straight decision and fell to 5-5 on the year. Adams allowed three earned runs on four hits in 2.2 innings. Lower gave up two hits, two runs and struck out a batter in two innings. Will Middour (Atlanta, Ga.) nearly finished off the game with a hitless 2.1 innings of work. Ryan McCafferty (West Chester, Pa.) recorded the final two outs in the game, striking out the last batter he faced.
Tommy Organ earned his fourth win (4-0) of the year, allowing just one hit in two innings. The next three pitchers combined for four scoreless innings, before Chandler Jagodzinski gave up two runs on two hits. Jagodzinski also struck out two batters in his inning of work. Evan Stermer and Andrew Karmeris closed out the ballgame, allowing one run over the final two innings.
The Eagles return to Southern Conference play this weekend at Western Carolina. The two teams meet Friday in the series opener at 6 p.m. The series concludes with a 3 p.m. game on Saturday and a 2 p.m. contest on Sunday.
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.
