Baseball Falls in Final-Series Opener with the Mountaineers
5/20/2011 1:40:00 AM | Baseball
BOONE, N.C. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team (31-22, 17-11) dropped the opener of their final regular-season series to Appalachian State (30-24, 14-14) Thursday night, May 19th, at Jim & Bettie Smith Stadium. Victor Roache (Ypsilanti, Mich.) set a new single-season home run record for both Georgia Southern and the Southern Conference after he hit his 28th long ball of the year in the first inning. Roache passed Ben Abner (1984) for the Eagle record and Brandon Warring (2007) of Wofford for the SoCon record.
However, it was all Mountaineers after the top of the first. Appalachian State scored four runs in the bottom half of the inning and added four more runs in the fourth inning for an 8-1 lead. Another run in the fifth inning to extended the ASU lead to 9-1. The Mountaineers tacked on two more runs on a pair of errors in the bottom of the eighth inning to go ahead by 10, 11-1.
Ryan Arrowood got the win for Appalachian State after a solid start of seven innings. Arrowood (W, 8-2) allowed one run on four hits and struck out six batters for his eight win of the season. Arrowood did allow six walks but combined with three pitchers out of the bullpen to strand 11 Eagle base runners.
Chris Beck (Jefferson, Ga.) suffered the loss for the Eagles after early walks led to the four-run first inning for Appalachian State. Beck (L, 7-4) allowed six runs on six hits over 3.1 innings, striking out two batters against three walks.
Jarret Leverett (Eatonton, Ga.) worked around a base runner in the sixth and seventh innings and came out throwing strikes to record two scoreless innings before allowing two runs in the eighth. Leverett gave up one earned run on three hits and walked three batters over three innings.
Arthur Owens (Fayetteville, Ga.), batting out of the ninth spot, singled in the second and ninth innings. He walked in the seventh to turn the lineup over, but the top of the order went 2-for-13 at the plate.
All Georgia Southern Baseball games can be heard on Eagle 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 call all the action.
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