Baseball Opens Final Midweek Series of the Year at Home Wednesday
5/3/2011 5:26:00 PM | Baseball
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team (25-19) plays the first of two midweek games with Charleston Southern (22-22) on Wednesday, May 4th at 6 p.m. at J.I. Clements Stadium. The contest is the first of seven-straight at home and opens its final homestand of the year. The Eagles face Wofford this weekend in a three-game weekend series.
Will Middour (Atlanta, Ga.) takes to the hill for the second-consecutive midweek game. He makes his fifth start of the season for the Eagles and is 3-1 with a 6.04 ERA in 15 appearances this season.
Georgia Southern looks to bounce back from a three-game sweep at the hands of UNC Greensboro last weekend. The Eagles were unable to hold on to a lead in all three games and a Spartan multi-run inning in all three proved costly. GSU had some positives come out of the weekend, coming out of the gate swinging in the first inning and scoring a run in all three first frames.
Chris Beck (Jefferson, Ga.) and Joe Lower (West Palm Beach, Fla.) both gave up early runs, but settled down in the fourth inning of their starts. Beck went on to throw an eight-inning complete game and struck out nine batters. He also retired the side in order in the final five innings he pitched on Friday, April 29th. Lower, who had allowed single runs in the first two innings of his start on Sunday, May 1st, retired the side in order in the third, fourth and fifth innings, but trouble in the sixth inning allowed four more runs.
Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) hit .526 with four RBIs during last week's four contests. He went 10-for-19 at the plate and had three multi-hit games. The junior shortstop has hit in all but five games this season and is currently in the midst of a 10-game hitting streak. Phillips ranks in the top-20 in the NCAA in batting average and hits, while Victor Roache (Ypsilanti, Mich.) continues to mash home runs. The sophomore outfielder leads all Division I players with 23 long balls and is quickly climbing the single-season GSU chart, now ranking seventh all-time.
Streaky team this season, Charleston Southern sits at .500 with a 22-22 record. They have won as many as five games in a row in the beginning of March and just recently snapped a five-game losing streak with a doubleheader sweep at Winthrop on April 23rd. The Buccaneers have had over a week off since their last contest.
Charleston Southern is hitting .290 with 20 home runs as a club. Nick Chinners leads the team with a .346 batting average and a .458 on-base percentage. Derek Smith is the home run threat on the team, having hit eight this season. He also leads the squad with 35 RBIs.
The Buccaneer pitching staff has posted a 5.28 ERA with a .285 opposing batting average. Charlie McCready leads this year's team with a 1.85 ERA. He is 4-1 on the year with four saves in 43.2 innings. The only other players with ERAs below 4.00 are two of the primary starters.
All 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.
