Eagle Baseball Opens SoCon Tournament against Charleston Wednesday
5/22/2011 9:36:00 PM | Baseball
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team (32-23, 18-12) finished in a three-way tie for third place in the Southern Conference and will be the number-four seed in the 2011 Bennett Hospitality Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Carolina Ford Dealers after the tie breaker was applied. The Eagles face the College of Charleston (36-20, 18-12) in game #4 on Wednesday, May 25th, at 9 p.m.
The contest features the league's top-two home run hitters, Charleston's stellar freshman, Daniel Aldrich and the nation's home run leader, Eagle Victor Roache (Ypsilanti, Mich.). Roache has hit 29 home runs this season, while Aldrich has 22 to his name in a outstanding rookie campaign.
GSU makes its third trip of the year to Charleston and its 3-1 in the Holy City this year. The Eagles won the season series with the Cougars, winning games one and three by a combined score of 18-8. CofC won the middle game of the series 3-2 on a pinch-hit double by Dre Watts in the seventh inning. A complete game outing from senior Andy Moye (Alpharetta, Ga.) in the finale allowed the Eagles to score four runs in the eighth inning for the 7-1 win.
The winner of the game between the Eagles and the Cougars advances in the winner's bracket to face the winner of #1 Elon and #8 Western Carolina at 9 p.m. on Thursday, May 26th. The loser of game will play the loser of Elon/Western Carolina in the loser's bracket earlier in the day at 1 p.m.
Georgia Southern sits just under .300 as a team and finished the regular season with a .298 batting average. Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) leads the team with a .396 batting average and is second in the SoCon in both hits (89) and average. Roache leads all players in NCAA Division I with 29 home runs and set the Georgia Southern and Southern Conference single-season records last week.
Matt Murray (Spring City, Pa.) and Moye lead a pitching staff that has posted a 4.63 team ERA, which ranks fifth in the Southern Conference. Murray leads the SoCon with a 1.99 ERA and a .188 opposing batting average. He is 4-2 on the year with eight saves in 58.2 innings. Murray has struck out 63 batters to only 19 walks this year. Moye is 6-1 in 10 starts this season and has a 2.71 ERA over 63 innings of work.
A bases loaded walk-off infield single from Samford's Phillip Ervin in the series finale on Saturday gave the Bulldogs the three seed and Charleston the five seed in the SoCon Tournament. The Cougars rallied in that contest from an early four-run deficit but were unable to close the books on the Bulldogs after leading 5-4 in the top of the seventh inning.
The College of Charleston leads the Southern Conference in home runs with 78 and is second in the league in batting average with a .300 mark. Four hitters have hit over 10 or more long balls this season and six starters have a batting average over .300.
The Cougar pitching staff is a solid group and has tallied a 4.37 ERA behind the weekend arms of Christian Powell and Josh Renfro. Powell is 7-1 with a 3.13 ERA in 11 starts this season and has held opponents to a .226 batting average over 74.2 innings. Renfro paces the SoCon with nine victories in 11 decisions this season and has posted a 3.58 ERA over 88 innings and 14 starts.
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.
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.
