Eagles Set to Face Marshall, Roache Earns More National Awards
4/7/2011 6:17:00 PM | Baseball
STATESBORO, Ga. - More national recognition of Victor Roache's (Ypsilanti, Mich.) career week at the plate continues to pour in as Georgia Southern (18-12) travels to Beckley, W.Va., to face Marshall (10-17) in a non-conference weekend series. Roache was named a national player of the week by both the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and College Baseball Insider and a Midseason All-American by Baseball America.
Georgia Southern is coming off a 14-1 loss on Wednesday and will make its longest road trip of the season to face the Thundering Herd. Game times at Epling Stadium are set for 6:05 on Friday and Saturday and noon on Sunday.
Marshall is hitting .255 with 14 home runs as a team. Kenny Socorro leads the Thundering Herd in hitting with a .313 batting average, while Rhett Stafford supplies the power with four home runs and 19 RBIs. Marshall's pitching staff has amassed a 4.40 ERA with a .257 opposing batting average. The Herd has also struck out 201 batters and allowed 103 walks this season.
Chris Beck (Jefferson, Ga.) will square off with Shane Farrell on Friday night, while Josh Adams (Bath, S.C.) goes for the Eagles on Saturday. Mike Mason and Arik Sikula round out the rotation for Marshall. Beck is 4-0 with a 3.00 ERA in eight starts this year. Beck is this first weekend starter for the GSU to make it through March with an undefeated record. Adams leads the team in victories with five and is 5-3 with a 3.77 ERA on the year.
It wasn't all bad news against Mercer. Garren Palmer (Dalton, Ga.) picked up two hits and launched his first career home run in the seventh inning. Georgia Southern finished the game with eight hits and had two other players record multi-hit games. Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) singled in the sixth and ninth innings. Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.), who caught the final three innings of the game, reached base in all four plate of his appearances. He singled in the sixth inning and doubled in the eighth.
Roache hit .611 (11-18) last week with six home runs, a double and 13 RBIs to pick up Hitter of the Week Honors. He slugged 1.667 with 30 total bases and moved into a tie for the NCAA Division I lead with 12 home runs on the season. Roache struck out only once on the week in his final at-bat on Sunday and received a standing ovation from the crowd for his stellar performance.
Roache started the week with a solo shot at Jacksonville to give Georgia Southern its first run of the game in the seventh inning. He did not homer in the first game of The Citadel series, but rebounded with three bombs last Saturday and two more on Sunday. Roache was the first GSU player in over 10 years to hit three dingers in one contest. The last was Matt Easterday against East Tennessee State on March 25th, 2000.
The sophomore outfielder was one of only three sophomores selected by Baseball America as a part of their First Team Midseason All-America squad. Roache is hitting .322 in 30 games this season with 12 home runs and 35 RBIs. He has posted a .678 slugging percentage and a .391 on-base percentage.
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.
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