Eagles Score Early and Often to Earn Day Off Friday
5/27/2011 5:29:00 AM | Baseball
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team (34-23) scored early and often and got a hard-fought quality start from Andy Moye (Alpharetta, Ga.) to put the Eagles in the driver's seat in their half of the Southern Conference Tournament bracket after defeating Western Carolina (23-30-1) 12-1 on Thursday night.
Moye (W, 7-1) had to fight through eight walks to earn his seventh win of the season. The senior pitcher allowed just four hits and one run while striking out three batters in eight innings of work. He pitched 4.1 hitless innings to start the game before Adam Martin picked up the Catamounts' first base hit of the game in the fifth inning.
"Andy Moye was outstanding," said Head Coach Rodney Hennon. "When he did get in trouble we made some big plays behind him and Eric Phillips had his part in several of those."
Georgia Southern scored runs in all but four innings and kept the bats going all night to earn themselves a day off on Friday. The Eagles await the winner of Friday's 7 p.m. game between the College of Charleston and Western Carolina for their next game at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Shawn Payne (Stone Mountain, Ga.) tied a school and SoCon Tournament record with five runs scored and stole three bases to move himself within one of sixth place all-time on the career list at GSU. Payne got on base in all but one plate appearance and scored every time he reached base. The senior outfielder walked three times, singled once and was hit by a pitch.
With GSU playing as the visiting team, Payne drew a walk to lead off the game and promptly stole second base before two-straight ground outs to the right side drove him in. Georgia Southern jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the third inning with two runs scoring on three hits.
The Eagles added two more runs in the fourth inning both coming with two outs in the inning. Payne was hit by a pitch in a two-strike count and scored on a failed pick-off attempt that involved two errors on a pair of wild throws. Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.), who singled to move Payne to second base, reached third on the errors and scored on Steve Cochrane's (Mooresville, N.C.) RBI single.
Victor Roache's (Ypsilanti, Mich.) two-RBI single with the bases loaded capped off a three-run seventh inning. Georgia Southern nearly batted around and took an 8-0 lead after three walks loaded the bases. Singles from Phillips and Roache drove them all in.
Western Carolina broke up the shutout with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning, cutting the score to 8-1. A walk and a double from pinch-hitter Dykota Spiess put two runners in scoring position before a fly out by Aaron Attaway drove in the Catamounts' first run of the game.
Two extra-base hits, two walks and a RBI-single by Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.) gave the Eagles the run back and then some. GSU scored four runs in the final inning to take the final lead of 12-1. A triple by Phillips drove in Payne, who had walked to open the inning, and a ground rule double by Cochrane moved two runners into scoring position. Both runners scored on the single and a double play.
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.
